Skip to main content

Full text of "Dukes & poets in Ferrara; a study in the poetry, religion and politics of the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries"

See other formats 


This  is  a  digital  copy  of  a  book  that  was  preserved  for  generations  on  library  shelves  before  it  was  carefully  scanned  by  Google  as  part  of  a  project 
to  make  the  world's  books  discoverable  online. 

It  has  survived  long  enough  for  the  copyright  to  expire  and  the  book  to  enter  the  public  domain.  A  public  domain  book  is  one  that  was  never  subject 
to  copyright  or  whose  legal  copyright  term  has  expired.  Whether  a  book  is  in  the  public  domain  may  vary  country  to  country.  Public  domain  books 
are  our  gateways  to  the  past,  representing  a  wealth  of  history,  culture  and  knowledge  that's  often  difficult  to  discover. 

Marks,  notations  and  other  marginalia  present  in  the  original  volume  will  appear  in  this  file  -  a  reminder  of  this  book's  long  journey  from  the 
publisher  to  a  library  and  finally  to  you. 

Usage  guidelines 

Google  is  proud  to  partner  with  libraries  to  digitize  public  domain  materials  and  make  them  widely  accessible.  Public  domain  books  belong  to  the 
public  and  we  are  merely  their  custodians.  Nevertheless,  this  work  is  expensive,  so  in  order  to  keep  providing  this  resource,  we  have  taken  steps  to 
prevent  abuse  by  commercial  parties,  including  placing  technical  restrictions  on  automated  querying. 

We  also  ask  that  you: 

+  Make  non-commercial  use  of  the  files  We  designed  Google  Book  Search  for  use  by  individuals,  and  we  request  that  you  use  these  files  for 
personal,  non-commercial  purposes. 

+  Refrain  from  automated  querying  Do  not  send  automated  queries  of  any  sort  to  Google's  system:  If  you  are  conducting  research  on  machine 
translation,  optical  character  recognition  or  other  areas  where  access  to  a  large  amount  of  text  is  helpful,  please  contact  us.  We  encourage  the 
use  of  public  domain  materials  for  these  purposes  and  may  be  able  to  help. 

+  Maintain  attribution  The  Google  "watermark"  you  see  on  each  file  is  essential  for  informing  people  about  this  project  and  helping  them  find 
additional  materials  through  Google  Book  Search.  Please  do  not  remove  it. 

+  Keep  it  legal  Whatever  your  use,  remember  that  you  are  responsible  for  ensuring  that  what  you  are  doing  is  legal.  Do  not  assume  that  just 
because  we  believe  a  book  is  in  the  public  domain  for  users  in  the  United  States,  that  the  work  is  also  in  the  public  domain  for  users  in  other 
countries.  Whether  a  book  is  still  in  copyright  varies  from  country  to  country,  and  we  can't  offer  guidance  on  whether  any  specific  use  of 
any  specific  book  is  allowed.  Please  do  not  assume  that  a  book's  appearance  in  Google  Book  Search  means  it  can  be  used  in  any  manner 
anywhere  in  the  world.  Copyright  infringement  liability  can  be  quite  severe. 

About  Google  Book  Search 

Google's  mission  is  to  organize  the  world's  information  and  to  make  it  universally  accessible  and  useful.  Google  Book  Search  helps  readers 
discover  the  world's  books  while  helping  authors  and  publishers  reach  new  audiences.  You  can  search  through  the  full  text  of  this  book  on  the  web 


at|http  :  //books  .  google  .  com/ 


d.rdi"i^ 


i 


O-         ^ 


.  J-;  A  R ,  \ 


'';\k!»N 


'>*^0f^ 


DUKES  &  POETS 
IN  FERRARA 


A  STUDY  IN  THE   POETRY,  RELIGION  AND 
POLITICS  OF  THE    FIFTEENTH    AND 

EARLY   SIXTEENTH   CENTURIES  .,, 


/By 

EDMUND  G.  5^RDNER,   M.A. 

Author  of  ^'Dante's  Ten  Heavens;' 
"  The  Story  of  Florence;*  "  Desideno;'  etc. 


LONDON 
ARCHIBALD  CONSTABLE   &   CO.   LTD 

1904 


THE  NBW  YORK       ' 
PUBLIC  LIBRARY 

334772A 

A3T0R,  LENOX  AND 

TILDEN  FOUNDATIONS 

R  1927  L 


BOTLBR  A  TANNER, 

Thb  sblwooo  printinc  Works. 

FROMB.  AND  LONZX>N. 


•       •     • 
•  •    •       • 


•  •  •••  •    •*•• 

. •      •  •-• •    ••  • 

••       •.•••  •    •  •• 

*  •      •  •    •  •    •     • 

•  •••••  ••       • 


•  •  •   •  *••••••      • 

>*■••••■■■      • 

•  •       •*   •  •••  •  •  •• 


TO 

PROFESSOR 

JAMES  SMITH   REID 

THIS  BOOK   IS 

AFFECTIONATELY  AND  GRATEFULLY 

DEDICATED 


CO 


PREFACE 

Chi  pensa  a'  tirazmi  se  vola  il  Boiardo 

Nel  cielo  de'  sogni  stellato  ? 
Se  squilla  a  battaglia,  pensoso  e  gagliardo, 
II  buon  cavaliere  Torquato  ? 

But  the  wealth  of  material  at  my  disposal,  published  an 
nnpublished,  has  proved  far  too  great  to  be  dealt  wit 
adequately  in  one  volume,  or  indeed  in  a  single  work. 

The  two  greatest  personalities  in  the  story  of  Ferrara  ar 
undoubtedly  the  second  Duke,  Ercole  I  d'Este,  and  th 
supreme  poet  after  Dante  of  the  Italian  nation,  Lodovia 
Ariosto.    The  former  may  be  said  to  have  created  moden 
Ferrara,  the  latter  raised  it  to  a  world-wide  importance 
n  the  history  of  European  literature.    Ferrarese  history 
falls  naturally  into  two  very  clearly  divided  portions,  the 
point  of  division  being  not  the  death  of  the  great  Duke 
Ercole  and  the  accession  of  the  formidable  Alfonso  I,  but  the 
close  of  the  year  1508 — the  year  that  witnessed  the  conclu- 
sion of  the  League  of  Cambrai.    After  that  year,  Ferrarese 
art,  literature  and  politics  take  a  new  turn.     The  works  of 
Lodovico  Ariosto  soon  after  that  date  begin  to  be  expressed 
in  a  different  form,  and  seem  impregnated  with  a  new 
spirit.    Between  his  earlier  writings,  in  verse  and  prose, 
and  his  later  poetry,  is  all  the  difference  between  the  early 
and  the  full  Renaissance;    and  in  the  carnival   of  the 
following  year,  1509,  with  his  second  prose  comedy,  the 
Suppositi,  he  crowned  and  completed  the  work  for  the 
renovation  of  the  Italian  Drama,  which  his  late  sovereign 
Ercole  had  begun  and  promoted  by  his  influence  and  patron- 
age.   We  see  a  similar  thing  in  Ferrarese  painting.     The 
earlier  school  still  survived  in  the  person  of  Lorenzo  Costa, 
but  Dosso  Dossi  and  Benvenuto  Tisi  had  hardly  begun  to 
make  themselves  known,  and  practically  all  their  extant 

viii 


PREFACE 

work,  all  at  least  that  is  really  significant,  was  still  to 
come.  These  first  years  of  Alfonso's  reign  witnessed  the 
dispersal,  by  death  or  otherwise,  of  the  peculiar  litCTary 
society  that  had  gathered  round  his  father  and  pre- 
decessor, and  had  given  its  tone  to  his  Court. 

In  this  present  volume,  then,  I  deal  with  the  political  and 
literary  history  of  Ferrara  from  the  epoch  immediately 
preceding  the  times   of    Borso  and  Ercole  down  to  the 
dispersal  of  what  we  may  call  the  Herculean  circle  in  the 
years  1508-1509 ;  that  is,  with  LeoneUo  d'Este  and  Borso 
the  first  Duke,  with  the  whole  reign  of  Ercole  I,  with  Savon- 
arola and  Boiardo  and  their  contemporaries,  and  with  the 
opening  years  of  Alfonso's  reign.    I  need  hardly  offer 
apology  or  explanation  for  lingering  in  some  detail  over 
Ercole's  relations  with  Savonarola  and  other  mystical  spirits, 
men  and  women,  of  the  same  Dominican  Order.  As  I  read 
the  character  of  this  (to  me  at  least)  the  most  interesting 
figure  among  the  sovereigns  of  the  early  Renaissance,  a 
sincere  but  somewhat  ineffectual  mysticism  is  the  leading 
motive  in  Ercole's  Ufe.    There  were  many  Italian  princes 
of  the  fifteenth  and   sixteenth  centuries  who,  in  their 
general  foreign  and    dlomestic  poUcy,  foUowed  a  Une  of 
conduct  analogous  to   his ;  there  was  not  one,  so  far  as 
my  knowledge  extends,  who  strove  so  diligently  to  establish 
relations  with  the  unseen  world. 

Although  the  youth  and  early  manhood  of  Ferrara's 
supreme  poet  f  aU  under  the  epoch  here  considered,  I  have 
dealt  with  him  merely  cursorily.    In  a  second  volume,  which 

is  already  well  m  hand,  but  which  will  be  in  the  form  of  an 
entirely  independent  work,  I  treat  in  full  of  the  Life  and 
Work  of  Anosto-the  King  of  Court  Poets,  as  I  venture  to 
caU  him.     This  will  naturally  mdude  the  adventurous  and 


PREFACE 
romantic  reign  of  Alfonso  I.    I  also  intend,  in  a  smaUe^^  ^ 


to  deal  separately  with  the  painters  of  the  Ferrarese 
I  hope  ultimately  to  complete  the  history  of  Ferrara  "^^ 
volume  dealing  mth  Ercole  II  and  Alfonso  II ;  the 
testant  Duchess  Renata;   Torquato  Tasso;   the  enfor 
surrender  of  the  Duchy  to  Pope  Clement  VIII,  and 
expulsion  of  the  last  Duke,  Cesare  d*  Este. 

English   readers  are  already  famiUar  with   the  ear; 
portion  of  the  reign  of  Ercole  I,  in  so  far  as  his  child: 
are  concerned,  in  the  charming  pages  of  Mrs.  Ady(jE>^ 
Cartwright).    To  her  Beatrice  d^  Este  I  am  happy  t{M:^^^^^^ 
knowledge  m3rself  indebted,  and  I  have,  as  far  asptsc^^ 
avoided  going  over  the  same  grotmd.    I  regret  that,  1:  f- 
for  the  present  in  Italy,  I  did  not  become  acquainted      J 
her  more  recent  Isabella  $  Este  in  time  to  consult  it  (or  ^== 
present  volume,  and  do  not,  therefore,  know  whethe*- 
has  been  able  to  add  an5rthing  to  the  rich  store  of  mate^  - 
already  gathered  by  Professors  Luzio  and  Renier. 

Among  modern  ItaUan  writers,  I  must  in  the  first  ^ 
specially  acknowledge  my  debt  to  the  late  Antonio  Cti 
whose  publications  are  of  inestimable  value  to  the  st^ 
of  Ferrarese  history  at  every  turn.    The   reseaicVx^^^^-^^i^^;^-^^ 
AJessandro  Luzio  and  Rodolf o  Renier  have  thrown  a  fV 
light  upon  the  inner  Ufe  of  the  Italian  Renaissance,  esp 
n  all  that  concerns  the  Houses  of  Este  and  Gonzaga, 
trust  that  in  my  pages  I  have  made  full  acknowlc^^ 
of  what  I  have  derived  from  their  essays  and  studi 
which  no  student  can  be  sufl&ciently  grateful.     I  ha\^e  S^    ^o 
much  use  of  the  labours  of  that  band  of  Italian    scl^^^l  ^^e 
^        led  by  Naborre  Campanini,  who  raised  so  excellent  a.  li^^  ^^s, 
monument  to  Boiardoonthe  occasion  of  the  fifth  cent^       ^ 
i  **      of  his  birth  ;  of  the  various  pubUcations  of  Co  ant    j    ^^y 


•^igi 


PREFACE 

Alberto  Gandini*  Angdo  Solerti,  Adolfo  Venturi,  and 
^xnberto  Dallari  ;  of  Dr.  Ludwig  Pastor's  monumental 
^tory  of  the  Popes.  More  recently  still,  the  work  of  a 
younger  Italian  scholar,  Giulio  Bertoni,  La  Biblioteca 
Estense  e  k  CoUura  Ferrarese  at  tempi  del  Duca  Ercole  /, 
has  proved  of  very  great  service  to  me  ;  not  only  for  what 
it  contains  (though  that  is  of  much  value),  but  also  for  its 
copious  references  and  indications  to  manuscripts  and  other 
sources  of  information,  it  is  hardly  too  much  to  say  that 
Dr-  Bertoni's  book  will  prove  an  indispensable  guide  to 
all  students  who  would  obtain  an  independent  know- 
ledge of  the  literary  atmosphere  of  fifteenth  century  Ferrara. 

In  leaving  this,  my  first  serious  contribution  to  the  study' 
of  Italian  history,  it  is  a  pleasant  duty  to  express  again  my 
gratitude  to  the  noble  books  of  Prof essor  Villari  on  Savon- 
arola  and  Machiavelli,  from  which  so  many  of  us  have 

awn  our  first  knowledge  of  that  fascinating,  many-sided 
epoch  in  the  world's  civilization  which  is  called  the  Renais- 
sance in  Italy. 

xcept  where  otherwise  stated,  my  quotations  are  made 
o^tly  from  the  documents  in  the  Archives  of  Modena 
e  Vatican.  At  the  risk  of  incurring  the  charge  of  being 
pedantic,  I  have  indicated,  somewhat  scrupulously  and 
w^t  ^'  ^^^  ^^  documents  are  quoted  from  the  published 
wor  o  Italian  scholars — especially  as  there  seems  a 
^l^^'^'^sion  in  Italy  that  of  late  a  somewhat  lax 
has    sometimes     been   prevalent    among  us    in 

England  m  this  rPQnpof       t  u  xi.        •     •  i 

o  xub  respect,      i  have  gone  on  the  prmciple 

tllJ^  t^^iislating  Latin   or  Italian  quotations  when 

inserted  m  the  text,  but   not  necessarily   when   merely 

quoted  in  the  notes.     In  an  Appendix,  I  have  made  a 

small   selection  of  the  rich  material  in  the  way  of  un- 


PREFACE 

published  documents  available,  partly  as  specimens  and 
partly  for  a  fuller  elucidation  of  the  text ;  as  a  rule,  with 
two  or  three  exceptions,  I  have  not  published  the  text  of  a 
document  in  the  Appendix  which  has  already  been  trans- 
lated in  the  body  of  the  work.  I  have  modernized  the 
pimctuation  and  accentuation,  and  expanded  the  con- 
tractions, but  otherwise  (with  the  exception  of  the  sub- 
stitution of  V  for  I*)  my  transcripts  are  textual.  It  has 
not  been  a  part  of  my  plan  to  supply  a  full  critical 
apparatus  of  documents,  which  would  be  out  of  place  in  a 
work  intended  for  the  general  reader  as  well  as  for  the 
professed  student  of  the  Renaissance. 

My  grateful  thanks  are  due  to  the  Cavaliere  Giovanni 
Ognibene  and  the  officials  of  the  Archivio  di  Stato  in  Modena, 
for  their  ever-ready  assistance  and  invariable  courtesy 
shown  me  during  my  researches ;  to  the  authorities  at  the 
Archivio  Segreto  of  the  Vatican  ;  and  to  Dr.  Giulio  Bertoni, 
for  some  valuable  suggestions  and  for  having  called  my 
attention  to  several  documents  of  importance  which  would 
otherwise  have  escaped  my  notice. 

E.  G.  G. 

Modena,  July  2,  1903. 


Xll 


CONTENTS 

J'AGF. 

Bibliography     ,  ^ 

CHAPTER  I 

UNDER   THE  WhITK    E^^„  ^^  gg^  ....  9 

CHAPTER  II 
Princes  AND  HuMAmsxs 26 


CHAPTER  III 
Thk  Dukb  of  Mor^si^A. 67 

CHAPTER  IV 

THB  TKIUKPH    OF    I>^^^    ^^^^^ 95 

CHAPTER  V 

X3»D»KTKEScKPXRfi    o,,  AlcIDES         .....       122 

CHAPTER  VI 
Thb  V/ak  of  Ferrari  j^^ 

CHAPTER  VII 
In  the  Lull  before  the  Storm 212 

CHAPTER  VIII 

lilATrEO  Maria  Boiardo 253 

xiii 


CONTENTS 
CHAPTER  IX 


PAGE  - 


The  Duke  and  the  Friar        ......     295 

CHAPTER  X 
In  the  Close  of  the  Quattrocento 340       [ 

CHAPTER  XI  I 

The  Coming  of  Madonna  Lucrszia  .382 

I 

CHAPTER  XII 
The  Last  Years  of  Duke  Ercole.         ....     424 

CHAPTER  XIII 
The  Poets  of  the  Herculean  Circle      ....     468 

CHAPTER  XIV 
The  End  of  the  Herculean  Age     .....     493 

APPENDIX  I 
Unedited  Poems  of  the  Borsian  Epoch         .  .  -     527 

APPENDIX  II 

A  Selection  of  Unpublished  Documents        .         .  -538 

Genealogical  Tables  of  the  Houses  of  Esle,  Gonzaga,  Sforza, 
Pio  and  Pico. 

INDEX 565 


XIV 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

Facing 

RCOLE  I  D'EsTB,  Second  Dukb  of  Ferrara.    By  Dosso 

•         .  Frontispiece 

Leokellod-Este.    By  Giovanni  Oriolo   .         ...      49 

HE  Triumph  of  Minerva  (detaU).      By  Ftancesco   del 
Cossa     . 

90 

Hso  AND  HIS  Companions.    By  Francesco  del  Cossa  112 

"w  Jbster  of  Ferrara.    By  Dosso  Dossi     .         .  160 

'"  ^"""""^  ^'^  Venus  (detaU).    By  Ftancesco  del  Cossa  282 

iRouiio  Savonarola  (in  the  Character  of  St.  Peter  Martyr). 

"V  Fia  Bartolonuneo ,20 

P~«Alex^x.erVI.    By  Hntoricchio     ....     359 

C^*  °'  Alexandria  (supposed  portrait  of  Lucrezia 
8W).    By  Pintoticchio    .  ^^ 

•  •  •  •  •  4^\Xj 

^°G^"^^°"'-    ^'^t^  fro'^  a  fresco.    By  Ercole 
f^^  '        '        ' ^ 

""bJ,^^"'  ^*°  ^"^  ""^  Ferrara.    After  Titian, 
''y  Dosso  Dossi 

*••...     496 


XV 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


I.  Unpubushed  Sources. 


A. 

ARCBmo  Segreto  della  Santa  Sede  (^referred  to  in  the  text  as 
Archivio  Vaticano"). 
^oH^^^M^^  Di  Stato  in  Modena  (referred  to  as  *'  Archivio  di 
Modena '') :   Canceilevia  Ducale,  CarUggio  dei  Principi  ;    Car- 
^^  ^^/»  Ambasciatori  ;  Minuiario  Cronologico, 

B. 

^^^^^  ^^'^^  P^  ^  Ugo  Caleffino  notario  Ferrarese,  figlio 
qwmdam  Sr,  Recordato  citiadino  di  Ferrara,  camenzando 
c^*"^'  »W5tf  e  di  chel  ilT^'  Sr.  Messer  Hercole  mio  Patrons  e 
^^^u^^'  ^^^  ^^^  ^^^^  ^  Fwrara  (referred  to  in  the  text  as 
in  FeteiJr^*  ^^^^^  ^  ^^«  £rco/«).  Copied  by  GiuUo  Mosti 
Stma  della  cifta  ^^^  *  ^'^^^^  Museum.  Additional  MS.  22,  324. 
Aseventep  fv.  ^^^^ra  dal  suo  pHncipio  sino  all*  anno  1471. 
by  Uco^llffi  ^iitury  copy  of  an  older  MS.,  apparently  originaUy 
535  6  '-aiemm.    BibUoteca  Nazionale  di  Firenze.  Cod.  xxv,  8, 

Suva  Cfofiicanifn  "R** 

insis  sed  i    ^"^^^^  Zambotti  luris  Civilis  Doctoris  Ferrari- 
runs  from  I  ^^^  *^^*'  ^<^^^^^  ^^^  MCCCCLXXV.     It 

470.  ^^^  ^^  '504.      Biblioteca  Civica  di  Ferrara.  Cod. 

S.  P<Ao  di  irjL       ^*^olo  da  Lignago  de'  FraH  Carmelitani  di 

Minutario  di  Brem.  ^"o-  ^"  ■'^'"^o  ^  Stato  in  Modena. 

„    ^.  1482.    B?bUotfiV^-    ^'°?  ^'^'"*  ^5.  1481.  to  August 

Frandsd  Ariosti   P~!^     **°'^*  <"  Firenze.    Cod.  II,  iu,  256. 

«««<m«wi  iwr»^.  ^""sco'isulti.  De    fortunati  felicisque 

^uslfissimunt  «,!***.*'•  ^''*««  Jeowwm  ingressus  Dieta,  ad 

towm  Lti    "^f??"**'*-"*  *««m  Herculem  Marchionem  Es- 

Francisd  AritsTpe^-  ^  ^*'^'»*  (Ro*"*)-    ^od-  I.  vii,  261. 

^*ei<'mferr^J:,^^J^'^°^^^.   De   novi   intra    ducalem 

jerranen,em  delubn,  in  gloriosissime  Virginis  Domini  lesu 


V     BIBLIOGRAPHY 

ChrisH  Salvaioris  Nostri  MatHs  honorem  et  reverenHam  dicati, 
ofigine,  situ  ac  veneroHone  et  admirabUis  simulacri  transloHone, 
Libellus,    Biblioteca  Estense  (Modena).    Cod.  a,  W.  4,  4. 
(Both  these  two  MSS.  are  also  in  Italian.) 
Filippo  Nuvolone,  SoneUi  e  canzone  morale  e  de  amore.      British 
Museum.    Additional  MS.  22,335. 

II.  Printed  Wobks  and  Editions  Cited. 

Agnelli,  Giuseppe.    Fenara  e  Pomposa.    Bergamo,  1902  (No.  2  of 

the  series  "  Italia  Artistica")- 
Alberti,  Leon  Battista.     Opere  volgari.    Edited  by  A.  Bonucci.     5 

vols.    Florence,  1843-1849. 
Alberti,  Leon  Battista.     Opera  inedita  et  pauca  separoHm  impressa. 

Edited  by  G.  M.  Mancini.     Florence,  1890. 
Alvisi,  £.  Cesare  Borgia,  Duca  di  Romagna.     Imola,  1878. 
D'  Ancona,  Alessandro.     Origini  del  Teairo  Italiano.     2nd  edition. 

2  vols.     Turin,  1891. 
Antolini,  C.     //  Dominio  Estense  in  Ferrara  :  VAcquisto,     Ferrara, 

1896. 
Antonelli,  G.  Indice  dei  manoscriUi  delta  Civica  Biblioteca  di  Ferrara, 

Ferrara,  1884. 
Antonelli,  G.  Saggio  di  una  bibliografia  storica  ferrarese.    Ferrara, 

1851. 
D'Arco,  C.     Notixie  di  Isabella  Estense  Gonzaga.     (Archivio  Storico 

Italiano.     Series   I.     Appendix,  vol.  2).    Florence,  1845. 
Ariosto,  Lodovico.      Lettere,  con  prefazione  storico-critica,  docutnenii 

e  note,  per  cur  a  di  Antonio  Cappelli.     3rd  edition.     Milan, 

1887. 
Ariosto,  Lodovico.     Opere  minori  in  verso  e  in  prosa.    Edited  by  F. 

L.  Polidori.     2  vols.    Florence,  1894. 
Ariosto,  Lodovico.     Orlando  Furioso,    Edited  by  G.  Casella.     Flor- 
ence, 1877. 
Armstrong,  E.  Lorenzo  de*  Medici  and  Florence  in  the  Fifteenth 

Century.    London,  1896. 
Balan,  P.   Storia  cT  Italia.     Vols,  iv-vi.     2nd  edition.     Modena, 

1895,  1896. 
Barotti,  L.  Serie  de*   Vescovi  et  Arcivescovi  di  Ferrara,     Ferraxa, 

1781. 
BarufEaldi,  G.  La  Vita  di  Lodovico  Ariosto.    Ferrara,  1807. 
Bello,   Francesco.     Libro  d'Arme  e   d* Amove  nomato  Mambriano, 

composto  per  I^Vandsco  Cieco  da  Ferrara.     Ferrara,   1 509. 
Bembo,  Pietro.    Opere.    Vol.  viii.    MUan,  1810. 
Bertoni,  Giulio.     La  Biblioteca   Estense  e  la  Coltura  Ferrarese    ai 

tempi  del  Duca  Ercde  I.    Turin,   1903. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Bianchi,  Jacoptoo   de',  detto  de'  Lancellotti.     Cronaca  Modenese, 
{Monuffienti  di  Storia  Pairia  delle  Provincie  MocUnesi,     Serie 
deUe  Crofuiche,    Tom.  I.)    Parma,  1862. 
Boiardo,  Matteo     Maria.    Orlando    Innamorato,    Edited    by    £. 

Costeio.    Milan>  1890.     [See  also  under  Panizzi.] 
Boiardo,  Matteo  Maria.    Le  poesie  volgari  e  laHne,  riscontrate  sui  ma- 

noscritU  a  su  l^  prime  5/am/>e  ^AngeloSolerti.     Bologna,  1894. 
Boiardo,  Matteo   Maria.    Lettere  edite  ed  inedite.     Edited  by  N. 

Campanini.      [See  below]. 
Studi  su  Matteo  Maria  Boiardo,  edited  by  N.  Campanini.     Bologna, 

1 894,    A  series  of  essays  by  G.  Ferrari,  N.  Campanini,  P.  Rajna, 

A.  Luzio,  P.  Gioigi,  A.  Campani,    R.  Renier,  C.   Tincani,    C. 

Antolini,  G.  Mazzoni,  to  which  are  added  Boiardo's  letters  edited 

by  Campanini. 
Borsa,  Mario.     Pier  Candida  Decenibri  a  rUmanesimo  in  Lombardia. 

Milan,  1893. 
Boisetti,  F.  G.     Hisioria  Almi  Ferrariae  Gymnasii.    Ferrara,  1735. 
Bnrckhaidi,  J.     The  CivHixaHcn  of  the  Renaissance  in  Italy.   English 

translation  of  the  3rd  German  Edition  by  S.  G.  C.  Middlemore. 
^  I-ondon,  1890. 

CaleflSni,  Ugo.     Cronica  de  la  HT^  et  ex^  Casa  da  Este.     See 

Cappeffi,  and  cf.  "Unpublished  Sources." 
^pamiii,N,    See  Boiardo. 

^^™Pon,  G.    NoHzie  per  la  Vita  di  Lodovico  A  riosto.    Florence,  1 896. 
^^~^>  -^^^riano.    La  Biblioteca  Estense  nella  prima  metd  del  secolo 

^V-  (Giomale  Storico  della  Letteratura  Italiana,  vol.  14).   Turin, 

^PP^^tomo,  Lettere  di  Lorenzo  de'  Medici  con  notixie  tratte  dai 
^^^*^ggi  dipiomoHci  degli  Oratori  Estensi  a  Firenze.  (Atti  e 
mraione  delle  RR.  Deputazioni  di  Storia  Patria  per  le  Provincie 

CaoT^r  ^A^  ®  Parmensi.      Series  I,  vol.  i).    Modena,  1866. 

wt«'  ^?*°^^-     ^otiHe  di  Ugo  Caleffini  con  la  sua  cronaca  in 

CjLTJZmA.'*  ^  ^^^'      (Ibid.  vol.  2).     Modena,  1867. 
^^'T^^^""'    ^Co^gi^radeiPio  contra  Borsod'Este.    (Ibid. 

^^'/^1*^^°'    ^''^  Girolamo  Savonarola  e  notizie  intomo  al 
CaT>i^tt-.^^^*^'^^^-4).     Modena,  1869. 
^So  ^*''^^^  *  LeoneUod^Este.  (Ibid.  vol.  5).  Modena, 

5^i'?'*''?°-    See  also  Ariosto  and  Pistofilo. 

1^^;       ^'^  ^^^   Repubhlica  di  Firenze.     Vols.  2  and   3. 
Florence,  1879,  etc. 

SnS^^^    ^^^  ^^^   *  P^<^^^''  Ode.    Bologna,   1899. 
(Repnnted  in  Rime  e  Ritnii.) 


> 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Carducd^  Gi06ud.     Delle  Poesie  Latine  edite  e  inediU  di  Ludomo 

Ariosto.     2nd  edition.     Bologna,  1876. 
Cartwright,  Julia  (Mrs.  Henry  Ady).    Beatrice  <r  Este  :  Duchess 

of  Milan,  1475-1497.    A  Study  of  the  Renaissance.    London, 

1899. 
Cittadella,  L.N.     //  CasteUo  di  Ferrara.    Ferrara,  1875. 
Cittadella,  L.  N.     Notixie  relative  a  Ferrara  per  la  maggior  parte 

inedite,    Ferrara,  1864. 
Comines,  Philippe  de.      The  History  of    Comines,      englished   by 

Thomas  Danett  anno  1596.      Edited  by  C.  Whibley.     (The 

Tudor  Translations.)    2  vols.    London,  1897. 
Conti,  Sigismondo  dei,  da  Foligno.      Historiarum  sui  Temporis. 

2  vols.    Rome,  1883. 
Corio,   B.     Sioria    di   Milano.     Vols.    2    and   3.     Edited   by  A.  I 

Butti  and  C.  Ferrario.    Milan,  1856,  1857.  / 

Correggio,  Niccol6  da.     Opere  intitulate  la  Psyche  et  la  Aurora,  stani'  \ 

pate  novamente  e  ben  corretie.    Venice,  1507.  j 

Corvisieri,  C.     //  Trionfo  Romano  di  Eleonora  £  Aragona,    (Archi-  ' 

vio  della  Society.  Romana  di  Storia  Patria,  vols,  i  and    10).  I 

Rome,  1878,  1887.  1 

Dallari,  U.     Carteggio  tra  i  BerUivoglio  e  gli  Estensi  dal    1401    al  \ 

1  $42  esistente  neir  ArchiviodiStato  in  Modena.     Bologna,  1902.  V 

Decembrio,  Angelo.     Poliiiae  Litter ariae  Angeli  Decembrii  Medio-  \ 

lanensis,  oratoris  clarissimi,  ad  summum  Pontificem  Pium  II,  ) 

libri  sepiem,    Augsburg,  1 540.  ! 

Delaito,  Jacopo    de*.      Annates    Estenses  (i  393-1409).    Muratori,  i 

Rerum  Italicarum  Scriptores,  vol.  18.  ' 

Desjardins,  A.     Negociations  diplomatiques  de  la  France  avec  la 

Toscane.    Vols,  i  and  2.     Paris,  1859,  1861. 
Diario  Ferrarese,   dalP  anno  1409  fino  al  1502,  di   autori   incerti, 

Muratori,  Rerum  Italicarum  Scriptores,  vol.  24. 
Dispacci  al  Senato  Veneto  di  Francesco  Foscari  e  di  altri  or  atari  presso 

Vimperatore  Massimiliano  I  nel  1496.    (Archivio  Storico  Italiano. 

Series  I,  vol.  7.)    Florence,  1850. 
Foucard,  C.  Proposta  fatta  dalla  Corte  Estense  ad  Alfonso  /,  Re  di 

Napoli  (1445).     (Archivio  Storico  per  le  Provinde  Napolitane. 

Anno  IV).    Naples,  1879. 
Frizzi,  A.     Memorie  per  la  storia  di  Ferrara  raccolte  da  Antonio 

Frizzi  con  giunte  e  note  di  C.  Laderchi.     2nd  edition.     Vols.  1—4. 

Ferrara,  1847,  1848. 
Gandini,  L.  A.     Saggio  degli  usi  e  delle  costumanze  della  Corte   di 

Ferrara  al  tempo  di  Niccold  III,     (Atti  e  memorie  della  R. 

Deputazione  di  Storia  Patria  per  Romagna.    Series  III,  vol. 

9.)    Bologna,  1898. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Gandim,  L.  A.    SuOa  venuta  in  Fetrara  dsUa  Beaia  Sfior  Lucia 

da  Namt.  Sue  UUere  ed  altri  documenU  inediti.  Modena,  1901. 
Gandini,  L.  A.    Episodio   Storico  inedito  intomo  Lucrena  Borgia 

neW  inminema  dell^   sue  nozze  con  Alfonso  S  Este.    Bologna, 

1902. 
Gaspary,  A,    Sioria    della   Letteratura   Italiana.     Volume   secondo 

tradoUodaltedesco  da,  Vittorio  Rossi.    Two  parts.    Turin,  1900, 

1901. 

Ghcrardi,  A.    Nuovi  dac%etnenti  e  studi  intomo  a  Girolamo  Savonarola, 

Florence,  1887. 
Giovanni,  Fra.    Antial^s.     See  Johannes. 
Giialdi,  G.  B.    Com^n^^UaHo  deUe  cose  di  Ferrara  et  de'  pHncipi  da 

EsU;  aggtufUotn  la,  vita  di  Alfonso  da  Este  desunta  dot  Giovio. 

Venice,  1597. 

Giialdi,    G.  B.    14    Mecatommithi  overo   Cento   NoveUe.    Venice, 

1574. 
Dispacci  A*  Antonio  Giustinian,  Ambasdatore  Veneto  in  Roma,  dal 

1502   al  1505.     Edited    by   P.    Villari.     3    vols.     Florence, 

1876. 

^^^^!^^^'/'  ^**^««a  Borgia  secondo  documenH  e  carteggi  dal 
tempo,    iraxialated  by  R.  Mariano.    Florence,  1883. 

Grayer,  y.  x-  Art  ferrarais  d  I'  ipoque  des  princes  d'  Este,  2  vols. 
Paxis,  1897.  '^  '  '^ 

Guicdardini  F.  storia  d'  Italia,  Edited  by  G.  Rosini.  5  vols. 
Turin,  1874,  187  c 

J»--  ^°°i^     Silva   Panegyrica   ad   Guannum   Veronens^ 
.  v*^*^«^  *******  U<MuPaimonii  Polmata.    Utrecht,  1784). 
■'°^^<:S^*^-  ^""^Pt*  «*  AnnoHitm  Libris  iUustris  FamUiae 
St^^Jof^^**********"'  '409-I4S4-  li.yu3iion,RerumlUdicantm 

^^^J^T^'   ^  ^<**>*Hii«MlebnUcdiam.     Milan,  1819,  etc. 
^^888  "**  *•*'  ^**^'  *■  ^»»^  '•  '»'^««»  «  *<«^»-    Bologna, 

^^'^997 .     '    ^^'****^  •' **<»«*f*i  "!ose  del  QuaUrocento.  Florence, 

l^X^t^'^'^'^^'^f-   .Ancona  x8;8. 

(CMonialeStoriJr^!i  «      ^<^^^d%e  classtche  %n  Ferrara  net  1499. 

Lnzio,  A.  and  Re^^  ^^"*  letteratura  ItaHana,  vol.  11).  Turin,  1888. 
con  Lodovico  eB  •  ^^  BelaHoni  di  Isabella  d*  Este  Gonzaga 
vd.  17.)    Milan  ^^'^^  ^forza.     (Archivio  Storico  Lombardo, 

Jjaao,  A.  and  Reuier'  P   1^' 

secondo  i  docunuL^'n     '^^^^'^^  Gonzaga  alia  Battaglia  di  Fornovo, 
V.  vol.  6^     T?u      -^^wtovaw .  (Archivio  Storico  Italiano.  Series 
'  J'    ^'Aorence,   1890. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Luzio,  A.  and  Renier,  R.  Mantova  e  Urbino  :  Isabella  d'  Este  »d 
Elisabetta  Gonzaga  nelle  relazioni  famigliari  e  nelle  vicende       V 
politiche.     Turin,  1893.  I 

Luzio,  A.  and  Renier,  R.     Niccold  da  Correggio.  (Giornale  Storico 

della  Letteratura  Italiana.     Vols.  21  and  22.)    Turin,  1893.  I 

Luzio,  A.  and  Renier,  R.     La  Coltura  e  le  Relazioni  Letterane  di       | 

Isabella  d'  Este  Gonzaga.  (Ibid.,  vols.  33-40.)  Turin,  1 899-1902. 
Machiavelli,  N.  Opere.     8  volumes.     Florence,  181 3. 
Malipiero,  Domenico.    AnnaliVeneti,i4S7-iSoo.{AxcYdvio  Storico 

Italiano.     Series  I,  vol.  7).     Florence,  1843. 
Mandni,  G.  M.     Vita  di  Leon  Battista  Alberti.    Florence,  1882. 
Muratori,L.  A.    Delle  Antichitd  Estensi  ed  Italiane,    2  vols.   Modena, 

1717-1740. 
Niccold  da  Ferrara,  Frate.     //  Libro  del  Polistore.     Muratori,  Rerum 

Italicarum  Scriptores,  vol.  24. 
Novati,  F.     Donato  degli  Albanzani  alia  Corte  Estense.    (Archivio 

Storico  Italiano.     Series  V,  vol.  6.)    Florence,  1890. 
Olivi,  L.    Delle  Nozze  di  Ercole  I  con  Eleonora  d'Aragona,   (Memorie 

della  R.   Accademia  di  Scienze,  Lettere  ed  Arti  in  Modena. 

Series  II,  vol.  5.)    Modena,  1887. 
Panizzi,  A.     Orlando  Innamorato  del  Boiardo,  with  an  essay  on  the 

romantic  narrative  poetry  of  the  Italians,     London,  1830. 
Pastor,  Ludwig.     Geschichte  der  Pdpste  im  Zeitalter  der  Renaissance. 

2nd    edition.     Freiburg    im    Breisgau.     1 891 -1895.     3    ^^^' 
P^lissier,  L.  G.     La  Politique  du  Marquis  de  Mantoue,  pendant  la 

lutte  de  Louis  XII  et  deLudovic  Sforza  (i 498-1  scxj).  (Annales 

de  la  Faculty  des  Lettres  de  Bordeaux,  ann6e  1892.     No.  i). 

Paris,  1892. 
^  Pez,  B.  and  Hueber,  P.     Thesaurus  Anecdotorum  Novissimus.     Vol. 

6.     Augsburg,  1723. 
Piccolomini,  Enea  Silvio  (Pius  II).      De  Viris  Illustribus,      (Biblio- 

thek  des  Literarischen  Vereins  in  Stuttgart,  vol.  i).  Stuttgart, 

1843- 
Piccolomini,  Enea  Silvio  (Pius  II).     Opera  quae  extant  omnia,  Basle, 

1551. 
Piccolomini,   Enea   Silvio  (Pius  II).     Commentarii  Rerum  Memora- 

bilium,  quae  temporibus  suis  contigerunt,     Rome,   1584. 
Piccolomini,  Enea  Silvio  (Pius  II).     Historia  Rerum  Friderici  Tertii 

Imperatoris.     Strassburg,  1685. 
Pigna,  G.  B.     Historia  de*  Principi  d*  Este,     Ferrara,  1570. 
Pistofilo,  Bonaventura.     Vita  di  Alfonso  I  d*  Este^Duca  di  Ferrara, 

etc.     Edited  by  Antonio  Cappelli.  (Atti  e  memorie   delle  RR. 

Deputazioni  di  Storia   Patria  per  le   Provinde    Modenesi    e 

Parmensi.     Series  I,  vol.  3.)    Modena,  1868. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

^toia,  U  (Antonio  Cammelli).  /  sanetti  del  Pistoia  giusta  VApc^ 
grafo  Trivulziano,  a  cut  a  di  Rodolfo  Renier.    Turin,  1888. 

^^,  E.    La  Guerra  di  Ferrara  del  1482.    Padua,  1893,  1894. 

-'^jna,  P.  Le  Fonti  dell'  Orlando  Furioso.  2nd  edition.  Florence, 
1900. 

Renier,  R.    See  under  Luzio  and  Pistoia. 

J^tme  suite  dei  PoeH  Ferraresi  antichi  e  moderni  [edited  by  G.  Bamf - 
laldi].    Ferrara,  1713. 

-Komanin,  S.  Storia  documetUata  di  Venezia.  Vols.  3-5.  Venice, 
1853^1. 

-Rosmini,  C.  de\    Vita  e  disciplina  di  Guarino  Veronese  e  de'  suoi 
Ros£^^''    ^  ''''^'     ^resda,  1805,  1806. 

nii^' ^''  ^^*    ^^'  istoria  intomo  aUe  militari  imprese  e   alia 

Rua   r       "^^<««»<o.     Milan,  1900. 

£?baSnitt^^*'«-^-'-    Turin.  ^888. 

Sanudo  M   '  ^^tcnuntaia  di  Giovannt  Aurispa.  Noto,  1892. 

ani  d^ri    ^*^''**'*^^«»^*  ^^<^  Guerra  di  Ferrara  tra  li  VeneH- 
islg       ^^^^^o^d*Esteneli4S2.    Ed.  L.  Manin.    Venice, 

'pSii^e^  ^"^  -^^eimotk?  di  Carlo  VIII  in  Italia.    Ed.  R. 

"stefanf^d  ^^  ^^^^h  149^1533-    Edited  by  FuUn,  Barozzi, 
Sanndo,  M^ino  ^'''^^*.    Venice,  1879-1902. 

Italiearum  '<?    •  *^  ^'  ^**^**  ^*  Venezia.    Muratori,  Rerum 

Monticolo  '   ^^^^^^^>  voL   22.    A  new  edition  by  Giovanni 
etc.  ^  ^^  course  of  publication.    CittA  di  Castello,  1900, 

Sardi,  Gasparo      m.^*      . 

Scbivenpglia  A     7;     *^^*  Ferraresi.    Ferrara,  1556. 

C.  D'Arco      j^^^^<^  di  MarUova  dal  1445  al  1484.     Edited  by 
inediti  vol         ^'  duller,  RaccoUa  di  Cronisti  e  Storici  Lombardi 

Schmaisow',  A  'm«2«^^'  ^^56. 

Secco-Suardo  q^^^^o  da  Forll    Berlin  and  Stuttgart,  1886. 

memorie'  d^  1^  ^^tuiio  di  Ferrara  a  tuiio  U  secolo  XV.    (Atti  e 
Ferraia,  igQ.    ^^^tazione  Ferrarese  di  Storia  Patria,  vol.  6.) 

Segaxi2zi,A.'    Delia, ^t^ 

1 900.  ^^'^  «  deUe  opere  di  Michele  Savonarola.     Padua, 

Sitta.,  P.    SaggiQ    «^, 

secoliXV  e  ^^f^  ^^^^^*^oni  finanziarie  del  ducato  Estense  net 
S  toria  Patria      \r  ^"^^^i  e  memorie  della  Deputazione  Ferrarese  di 
Solerti,  A.    Ferrar  "  ^*^    Ferrara,  1891. 

decimosesto.       *  ^  '^  Corie  Estense  nellaseconda  metd  del  secolo 
Borgatti.    Ci+fA      ^iti<>i^  with  Map  of  Ferrara  in  1597  by  F. 
^^^^  di  Castello,  1900. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Solerti,  A.     Ugo  e  Parisina :  Storia  e  leggenda  secondo  nuovi  docu- 
y  menti.  (Nuova  Antologia,  Series  iii.  vols.  45  and  46}.  Rome,  1 893. 

Solerti,  A.     See  also  under  Boiardo. 
StrozHi  poetae  pater  et  films.    Edited  by  Aldus  Manutius.     Venice, 

1513. 
Strozzi,  Lorenzo.    La  vite  degli  uomini  iUustri  della  Casa  Stroxsi,  (Ed. 

P.  Stromboli.)    Florence,  1892^. 
Tebaldeo,  Antonio.     Soneti  e  capitoli  de  Messer  Antonio  Thebaldeo. 

Edited  by  Jacopo  Tebaldi.    Modena,  1500. 
Theiner,  A.     Codex  Diplontaiicus  Dominii  Temporalis  Sanctas  Sedis, 

Vol.  3.     Rome,  1862. 
Tiraboschi,  G.  Storia  della  Letter atur a  Italiana,     Milan,  1824,  eta 
Trinchera,  F.     Codice  Aragonese,  0  sia  letter e  regie,  ordinanunti  ed 

altri  atti  govemativi  de*  Sovrani  Aragonesi  in  Napoli.     2  vols. 

Naples,  1866,  1870. 
Vasari,  G.     Le  Vite  de'  piU  eccellenii  pittori,  etc.  Vol.   i. :  Gentile 

da  Fabriano  ed  il  Pisanello.     Critical  edition  by  A.  Venturi. 

Florence,  1898. 
Venturi,  A.     L'ArteFerrarese  nel  periodo  di  Borso  d' Este,     (Rivista 

Storica  Italiana,  II.  4).    Turin,  1885. 
Venturi,  A.     L'ArteFerrarese  nel  periodo  di  Ercole  I  d' Este.     (Atti 

e  memorie  della  R.  Deputazione  di  Storia  Patria  per  Romagna. 

Series  iii,  vols.  6  and  7.)    Bologna,  1888,  1889. 
Venturi,  G.  B.  (the  elder).     Storia  di  Scandiano.    Modena,  1822. 
Venturi,  G.  B.  (the  younger).     Relazioni  dei  Govematori  di  Reggio 

al  Duca  Ercole  I  di  Ferrara.    (Atti  e  memorie  delle  RR.  Depu- 

tazioni  di  Storia  Patria  per  le  Provincie  Modenesi  e  Parmensi. 

Series  iii,  vol.  2.)    Modena,  1884. 
Villari,  P.     La  Storia  di  Girolamo  Savonarola  e  de'  suoi  tempi.     2nd 

edition.     Florence,  1887,  1888. 
Villari,  P.     Niccold  Machiavelli  e  i  suoi  tempi.     2nd  edition.  Milan, 

1895,  1896. 
Voigt,  G.     II  Risorgimento  dell*  Antichitd  Classica,  ovvero  il  prima 

secolo  deU*  Umanesimo.    Translated  by  D.  Valbusa,  with  addi- 
tions, etc.,  by  G.  Zippel.     3  vols.    Florence,  1886,  1887. 
Yriarte,  C.     Cisar  Borgia.     2  vols.     Paris,  1889. 

[And  other  works,  published  and  unpublished,  roistered  in  the 
text  and  notes.] 


Chapter  I 
UNDER  THE:      ^HITE  EAGLE  OF   ESTE 

^ERRARA.  Kas    l>een  styled  the  "first  reaUy  modem 

aty  in  E\irop>e."    To-day  it  lies  magnificent  in  its 

desolation.     MtYvoiagh    the    Ferrarese,     throughout    the 

struggles  that  la.a.ve    made  Italy  one,  gave  ample  proof  of 

their  patavotasna.  tlie  pulse  of  the  new  ItaHan  nation  beats 

t»nt  feeb  y  m  tVus  city  that  was  once  among  the  most  charac- 

tenstac  P^ <^cts  of  the  Renaissance.    Gabride  d'Annunzio 

**^^    Tof     ^^  "  ^eserta  bellezza,"  and  every  sympathetic 

stt»  en^^   ttvodem  Italian  letters  must  know  the  striking 

^**'^«t,t,^  ^***^  ^*  ^oratra,  that  Carducd  has  written  upon 

^e  fifteenth  ^  ^"^  "^^  **®  present  decay.    In 

ost  ar«i         ^**  sixteenth  centuries,  Ferrara  was  one  of  the 

**  refine«i^*^*  '^*'^^  °*  ^*^^  ^^  and  culture,  the  seat  of 

^-val  of  :^^|^°*^  brilliant  Court,  for  a  whUe  even  the  jealous 

"rfy  l«l    ^^rence,  the  capital  of  a  potent  State  that  ranked 

?     143  ^'^  the  five  great  powers  of  the  peninsula,  and  that, 

*Ttalv  al^^**  °^  greatest  extension,  stretched  right  across 

^        ^^cst  from  sea  to  sea.»    Florence  had  given  to  all 

,  .'Mira  la  nobU  terra. 

Quasi  gran  fascia  che  I'ltalia  fenda 
Tasso  ^  *^  *^"«  "nar  si  stenda." 

A-    FmL     ^^..iiof^    "*'  viaggio  de   la  iUustrissima  signora  Duchessa 
^*'<t>^^  lo  Stato  (in  September.  1584). 


DUKES   AND    POETS    IN   FERRARA 

the  world  the  supreme  poet  of  the  Middle  Ages,  Dante 
Alighieri,  though  she  sent  him  forth  to  die  in  exile  at  Ra- 
venna, with  whom  she  must  now  share  his  fame.  Although 
the  sovereign  singer  of  the  Italian  Renaissance,  Lodovico 
Ariosto,  was  actually  bom  at  Reggio,  yet  Ferrara  may,  in 
part  at  least,  justly  claim  him  as  her  own,  and  has  fairly 
earned  the  proud  title  that  Carducci  gives  her — "  Madre  de 
Titale  muse  seconda." 

The  chief  glory  of  Ferrara  is  still  the  Castello  Vecchio, 
the  great  palace  castle  of  the  princes  of  the  House  of  Este. 
Hardly  elsewhere  in  Italy,  save  at  Urbino,  shall  we  find  so 
magnificent  a  monument  of  the  very  spirit  of  the  age  of  the 
Italian  Despots,  in  contrast  with  such  democratic  palaces 
of  the  Republics  as  the  Palazzo  ddla  Signoria  at  Florence 
„  or  the  Palazzo  Pubblico  at  Siena.  Everywhere  from  the 
walls  its  four  huge  red  towers  are  seen  through  bowers  of 
green  trees,  bathed  in  the  first  fires  of  simrise,  transfigured 
in  the  glow  of  an  Emilian  simset,  or  at  night  looming  up 
dark  and  threatening  against  the  stars.  Wander  where  we 
may  through  the  streets  of  Ferrara — and  there  are  few 
cities  more  pleasant  to  linger  in  for  weeks  together,  enjoying 
at  every  turn  some  relic  of  the  golden  past — ^we  feel  its 
pervading  presence.  And  everywhere  throughout  the  city 
we  touch  the  memories  of  the  illustrious  House  that  reared 
the  goodly  fabric  of  an  ideal  Renaissance  State,  though 
more  than  three  centuries  have  passed  since  the  White  Eagle 
of  Este  was  hurled  down  from  the  battlements  and  the  last 
Duke  of  Ferrara,  with  set  features  and  eyes  fixed  upon  a 
letter  in  his  hand,  drove  out  of  the  gate  of  his  city.  The 
one  great  poet  of  the  Italian  Renaissance  having  been  bom 
a  Ferrarese  subject,  it  was  inevitable  that  he  should  be  a 
Court  poet. 

lo 


UNDER   THE   WHITE   EAGLE   OF   ESTE 

"  The  laudable  discretion  of  the  Marquis  of  Este,"  wrote 
Dante,  "and  his  munificence  prepared  for  all,  make  him  to   \ 
be  beloved"^    It  is  probable  that  these  words  were  written 
in  irony,   for  elsewhere  the  Divine   Poet  never  touches, 
be  it  ever  so  lightly,    any  member  of  the  great  Guelf  house 
that,  save  for  twa  brief  mtervals,  reigned  in  Ferrara  from 
the  beginning  of  the  thirteenth  to  the  end  of  the  sixteenth 
centuiy,  without  leaving  a  lasting  scar  of  infamy  upon  the 
name.    The  fair-haired  Obizzo   II,  fourth  Estensian  lord 
of  Ferrara,  who  added  Modena  andReggio  to  his  dominions, 
is  plunged   with    Ez^elino — that  ghastliest  of  mediaeval 
tyrants,  from  whom  Obizzo's  own  grandfather,  the  magnani- 
mous and  heroic  Azzo  Novello,  had  delivered  Italy — into  the 
river  of  boiling  blood,  where  the  fierce  Centaurs  hunt  the 
damned  souls  of  tyrants  and  murderers ;    his  pander,  the 
Bolognese  Venedico  Caccianimici,  cowers  beneath  the  lash 
of  the  homed  demons  in  the  "  Evil  Pits  "  of  the  seducers 
of  women ;  Obizzo's  son  and  successor,  the  Marchese  Azzo 
VIII,  is  branded  as  a  parricide,  while  one  of  his  victims 
haunts  the  shores  of  the  Mountain  of  Purgation  amongst  the 
other  dim  ghosts  of  those  that  fell  by  the  sword.*    It  is 
more     probable   that    Dante   never    Ungered  in    Ferrara, 
and  indeed,  during  the  greater  part  of  his  wanderings,  the 
princes  of  the  House  of  Este— Rinaldo  and  Obizzo  III  and 
other  nephews  of  Azzo — ^were  themselves  despoiled  of  their 
States  and  in  exile,  while  the  vicars  of  King  Robert  of 
Naples  and  the  legates  of  the  Popes  of  Avignon  held  their 

1  n^  VidgaH  Eloquentia,  U.  6. 

«    Inf^^^  xu.  109-112,  xviii.  55-57  ;  Purgaiorio,  v.  77.     For  the 

s%x\y\eCt  oi  Dante's  treatment  of  the  House  of  Este,  see  I.  Del  Lungo, 

nani^  ^  J^pi  di  Dante,  ^p.  379-434,  and  T.  Sandonnini,  Dante  e 

gli  BsU^**^  ^e  Aui  e  Memovie  delU  RR,  Deputaxioni  di  Stories 

I>airi(^  P^  '•  fVowVicte  Modenesi  e  Parmensi,  series  iv.  vol.  4. 


4. 
II 


DUKES    AND    POETS   IN   FERRARA 


7 


capital,  and  hanged  or  beheaded  Ghibellines  and  Estensians 
alike. 

Throughout  Ferrarese  history,  we  shall  find  two  counter- 
acting forces  playing  upon  Ferrara:    Rome  and   Venice 
contending  for  predominance.    Although  the  Popes  recog- 
nized the  Estensi  as  their  vdcars  in  temporalibus^  they  claimed 
Ferrara  as  part  of  the  legacy  of  the  Countess  Matilda  to  the 
Holy  See,  and  at  a  later  epoch  made  prolonged   efforts, 
crowned  at  last  with  success,  to  bring  back  the  State  to  their 
direct  dominion.    The  Republic  of  Venice,  as  early  as  the 
beginning  of  the  twelfth  century,  had  established  a  colony 
in  the  city  for  commercial  purposes,  with  special   treaty 
rights.    It  had  joined  with  the  Pope  in  overthrowing  the 
last  of  the  Salinguerra  and  restoring  Azzo  NoveUo  to  power 
in  1240,  because  these  rights  had  not  been  respected  bv 
Salinguerra  and  his  Ghibellines  when  they  held  the  place 
in  the  name  of  the  Emperor  Frederick  II.    But  now  that  the 
Venetians  were  beginning  to  turn  their  attention  to  making 
acquisitions  on  the  Italian  mainland,  Ferrara  appeared  to 
them  a  tempting  and  possible  prize. 

Weaiied  out  with  fruitless  efforts  to  recover  by  force  of 
arms  the  cities  of  Modena  and  Reggio,  which  had  revolted 
in  1306,  the  Marchese  Azzo  VIII  died  on  the  last  day  of 
January,  1308,  in  the  castle  of  Este,  whither  he  had  gone  for 
the  sake  of  the  baths  of  the  Paduan  district.  He  left  no 
legitimate  children.  Before  leaving  Ferrara,  in  consequence 
of  the  feud  between  him  and  his  brothers  Aldobrandino  and 
Francesco,  he  had  made  a  will  leaving  the  government  to 
his  infant  grandchild  Folco,  the  legitimate  son  of  his  bastard 
Fresco,  and  appointed  the  latter  regent ;  but  it  was  said 
that,  in  Este,  he  had  been  reconciled  to  his  brothers,  had 
revoked  his  will  and  appointed  them  his  heirs. 

12 


UNDER     THE,     WHITE   EAGLE   OF  ESTE 

J^  disastrous  cozx-fces-t  lor  the  possession  of  Ferrara  followed, 
be^vveen  Fresco   oxi    -tlxe  one  hand,  who  was  in  actual  pos- 
session,  and  the     Ihf  sLx-chese  Francesco,  with  his  nephews 
f^xojaldo  and  Obizzo,    on  the  other.   The  Republic  of  Venice 
^^3S  rea.dy  to  tak^   a.  Ixand  in  the  game ;  while  Azzo  lay  on 
liis  death-bed,  tlxe  I><>ge  Gradenigo  had  sent  three  Venetian 
nobles  to  Ferrarat,    vinder  the  pretext  of  condoling  with  the 
^ax'qtiis  in  Ids  Illness  and  offering  their  assistance,  if  need 
stio«l<i  arise,  to  irxvestigate  the  state  of  things  and  the  dis- 
position of  tlie    i>eopie,  and,  in  case  of  his  death,  to  take 
nieasores  for    *'  ttie    good  state  of  Ferrara,"  in  accordance 
,^tla  Venetiaxi.    interests.'    Fresco  appealed  to  Venice,  and 
Vem<^  supported    liis  daim.    But  Pope  Clement  V,  as 
suzerain,  adoi>ted    the  cause  of  the  Marchese  Francesco, 
,^^tl^   *^*;  ^^^1     intention  of  reducing  Ferrara  to  the  direct 
aoi»i*******°     of     the    Holy  See.    His  Legate,  the  Cardinal 
^j-^ti&o  or  A.maMo  Pelagrua,  assembled  a  lai^e  army  in 
^A^enxiA,  un<i^r    the>ders  of  Lamberto  da  Polenta  (the 
l,rotl»«»^   *>      I^ante's  Francesca),  and  was  joined   by  the 
j^ajrcbese     ra^xoesco  himself.    On  the  arrival  of  the  ecclesi- 
astical *^^»  ^V-  land  and  river,  beneath  the  walls  of  Ferrara, 
;p"resco  io.to   the  fortress  of  Castd  Tedaldo,  which 

protec  ^^^  ^  ^  <::ity  from  the  south,  and  then,  finding  him- 
^^i  %XO»  o  r-esist  the  superior  forces  of  Francesco  and  the 
X^eg^*^*  ^    ^^^  ^  Folco's  claims  on  Ferrara  to  the 

^e»e*       '  ^^<a.   surrendered  the  castle  to  their  fleet  which 
\ii^  f^  tro^^    *^®  ^°*    Seeing  the  standard  of  San  Marco 
^oa-ting  ^pi  tile  battlements  of  the  CasteUo,  the  Ferrarese 
op®**  ^'••tes  to  the  papal  troops — ^under  the  impression 

Xi^^    .    .  ^f^^   about  to  welcome  the  Marchese  Francesco 
^tbeirnghtfva  sovereign. 

^*'*»*i,  Storia  documentata  di  Venuia,  iii.  p.  12. 
13 


DUKES    AND    POETS    IN    FERRARA 

"  The  aforesaid  Legate,"  writes  the  Benedictine     abbot, 
Fra  Niccold  da  Ferrara,  "  with  all  his  army  entered  into 
Ferrara  with  the  will  of  all  the  people,  who  all  cried  out  'with 
one  voice :  *  Viva  il  Marchese  Francesco.'   The  latter,  "who 
was  in  everything  strenuous  and  daring,  here  seemed  some- 
what timorous.    And  he  began  to  say  to  the  people  :    *  O 
my  dearest  brothers,  cry  no  more  '  Viva  il  Marchese  iTEste  * ; 
but  say,  *  Viva  la  Santa  Chiesa  Rotnana ! '    And    in    such 
wise,  against  the  will  of  the  people  and  of  all  his  friends,  the 
said  Marchese  Francesco  gave  the  lordship  to  the  aforesaid 
Messere  Amufio,  the  Legate,  and  made  him  dismount  in  his 
own  ancient  palace,  believing  without  doubt  that,  in  return 
for  so  great  courtesy  and  for  so  great  hiunanity,  that  Leg^aAfc 
would  freely  give  back  to  him  the  said  lordship,  as  he  had 
promised.     But  he  did  not  yet  know  well  these  eo<:.\«svas- 
tical  psLstors  ;  for  the  said  Legate  kept  the  lordship,  SLTid  the 
Marchese  Francesco  remained  deceived."  * 

A  tremendous  struggle  by  land  and  water  followed,    for 
the  possession  of  Ferrara,  between  Venice  and  Avignon. 
The  Venetians  held  the  fortress,  the  papal  forces  the  c^ity^ 
and  great  cruelties  were  perpetrated  on  either  side  ;    untU, 
in  the  latter  part  of  August,  1309,  the  Marchese  Francesco 
gained  a  decisive  victory  on  the  Po  over  the  Venetian  fleet, 
while  the  ecclesiastical  troops  stormed  the  Castello,  and  put 
the  whole  Venetian  garrison  to  the  sword.     Venice    'was 
forced  to  make  peace  in  1311,  and  recovered  hejr  trading 
rights  and  privileges ;    but  practically  nothing  q^  ^^^^ 
dominion  was  left  to  the  Estensi.  ^x    ^^^^.^. 

The  Pope  made  over  Ferrara  to  the  government  > 
Robert  of  Naples,  whose  vicars  and  chamberlains 


*  Libro  del  Polistore,  col.  716. 
14 


^DER  THE  WHITE   EAGLE   OF   ESTE 

Catalan  and  Gascon  mercenaries  in  the  name  of  the 

■p-     ^^^  and    King.    The  brutal  murder  of  the  Marchese 

T^ous  ^^^^  ^^  *^^^  Catalajis  in  1312,  the  crael  and  treache- 

ofF^^^^^^^^  ^^  *^^  Ferrarese  refugees,  whom  the  Bishop 

eteni     f^^^^  t>etrayed  to  the  royal  vicar  in  1314  (the  tragedy 

^^^   ^      ^  ^^   certain  grim  lines  of  the  LHvina  Commedia),^ 

rase  ^T^  ^^  ^^^^^  ^^-  ^^*  ^  J^^^'  ^3^7'  *^^  Ferrarese 
Gascon  ^  "^^-^^  and  recalled  the  Estensi.  The  Catalan  or 
man.     f^'^'^^^^  ^  *^*^1   Tedaldo  was  slaughtered  to  a 

-^^  ^r.««,  ^^^^^^^■^■^imication  and  interdict  followed  as  a  matter 
01  course,  an*-^ 

l^ates   es  -    ^  prolonged  struggle  with  the  Pope  and  his 

until   tile  ^^^^^-'^y  *^®  infamous  Beltrando  dal  Poggetto, 
d  in  1333  ^^^^"^si  were  formally  reconciled  to  the  Church, 
Snaldo,  Ofc»i  -■*  ^°^  XXll  finally  invested  the  brothers 

^  .^ '         *-^^^i^  III,  and  Niccold  I,  with  the  Vicariate  of 

With  the   i-^t-=^^     .. 

the  recogr^"^^  **"  °^  **^«  House  of  Este,  followed  thus 

rrara  and  -t>L^^**°  ^^  *^^  Princes  as  Vicars  of  the  Church  in 

•^®  *^"«  general  reintegration  of  their  dominions,'  a 


,  T^t  this  ecfc,^      Sz-60 ;  cf.  Libra  cM  Polistore,  col.  727. 

Ferrara.  X-^^*^**  *^®  principal   places  in  the  Estensian  lordship 

■w^    Castd  <lWlL      "^  *°*^  ^^  svirroiinding  country,  Argenta,  Comac- 

cb»<''j,olesine    ••a^      I^nale,  Adria,   Aiiano,  Rovigo,  Lendinara,  and  aU 

•tb^     jascinatiT:^^      ,^^°'    '^^xlena  was  recovered  in  1336.    Este, 

**Scn  **  ^-*^«-^.^    ,  5,*°'^  **  *lie  foot  of  the  Euganean  Hills,  from 

■w'*^  t^O  ^^P't-t^  J  u     ^*  <»»i1:inued  to  take  the  title  of  Marquis, 

li^^Hese  ^*<::»,      ^7x1*        ^**^«ans  in  1213,  when  they  forced  the 

M»*~-tOt  Fr«s,a.— s^^  V  TT      *'®«»°ie    a  Paduan  citizen.     In  1220  the 

^^S^  ^  ^^X^  compeUed  the  Paduans  to  restore  it,  and  to 

*■*  .Jl^.^-P'  •*Vx''^w*^®  (I^ocument  in  Muratori,  £»«««  Antichitd 

^*fVoO*  ^Y  ■^^v^^fr'i.      'J^-.t*^"  *«rt  again,  and,  though  frequently 

^^J^  "^  S^^S."^  V  "^^^  '^  thePo^es  as  a  bait  to  lure  the 

:es*^  ^jorn^s^^^  "^^  Venice,  it  was  never  permanently  recovered. 

^^  ;!!^t  caao^  i^t^™  '^''^  ^7  ^*°  Grande  della  Sca4,   and  the 

^  *  331  the  Pope  compeUed  the  Estensi  to  drop  the  title 

15 


DUKES   AND    POETS    IN   FERRARA 

brighter  epoch  opens.  Theu*  discretion  and  munificence — 
to  adopt  in  earnest  what  on  Dante's  lips  had  sounded  as 
bitter  sarcasm — ^induced  Italians  of  every  State  to  visit 
their  Court,  and  even  to  become  their  subjects.  Among  the 
first  to  do  this  were  the  Ariosti  from  Bologna,  who  were 
destined  to  give  Ferrara  and  the  House  of  Este  their  greatest 
glory.  A  beautiful  Bolognese  woman,  Lippa  di  Jacopo 
Ariosti,  had  become  passionately  attached  to  the  Marchese 
Obizzo  in  his  exile,  and  on  his  restoration  to  Ferrara  she 
followed  him  and  became  his  mistress.  La  bella  Lippa  da 
Bologna,  as  Messer  Lodovico  was  to  call  her,*  bore  her 
princely  lover  a  goodly  series  of  sons,  three  of  whom — 
Aldobrandino,  Niccold  II  and  Alberto— ascended  the  throne 
of  the  Estensi  as  vicars  of  the  Church  in  Ferrara  and  vicars 
of  the  Empire  in  Modena.  Obizzo  married  her  on  her  death- 
bed, and  she  was  buried  with  great  state  as  lawful  Mar- 
chesana  in  the  church  of  San  Francesco,  the  Pantheon  of 
the  reigning  House.*  Lippa's  two  brothers  Bonifazio  and 
Francesco,  and  her  cousin  Niccold  Ariosti,  followed  her  to 
Ferrara.  The  two  former  rose  to  high  honours  in  the  Court, 
and  were  among  the  principal  advisers  of  Obizzo's  successors  ; 
Niccold  Ariosti  founded  the  third  Ferrarese  branch  of 
his  family,  from  which  the  great  poet  was  to  be  bom. 

of  Marquis  of  Ancona,  which  they  had  used  since  the  beginning 
of  the  thirteenth  century. 

1  Orlando  Furioso,  xiii.  y^. 

*  "  On  the  27th  day  of  November  (1347)  died  the  noble  and  mag- 
nificent lady,  Madonna  Lippa  degli  Ariosti  of  Bologna,  wife  of  the 
magnificent  and  illustrious  Lord  of  Ferrara,  Marchese  Obizzo,  whom 
he  espoused  in  the  last  infirmity  of  her  death,  with  the  knowledge 
and  licence  of  the  Holy  Father,  Messere  Pope  Clement  VI.  By  the 
which  magnificent  lady  the  aforesaid  Marchese  Obizzo  generated 
eleven  children,  to  wit,  seven  male  and  four  female.  She  was  buried 
at  the  Place  of  the  Friars  Minor  at  Ferrara  with  most  great  and 
magnificent  honour  "  (Libra  del  Polistore,  col.  801). 

16 


UNDER  THE  WHITE  EAGLE   OF   ESTE 

The  first  great  representative  of  the  New  Learning  to 
enter  the  gates  of  Ferrara  was  Francesco  Petrarca  himself, 
who  found  a  cordial  welcome  at  the  Court  of  Niccold  II  in 
'370,  and  was  intimate  with  his  younger  brother  Ugo.*    A 
few  years  later  Benvenuto  da  Imola,  Petrarca's  friend  and 
Boccaccio's  pupil,  made  amends  for  Dante's  bitter  scorn  of 
the  House  of  Este  by  dedicating  to  this  same  Marquis  that 
famous  conunentary  which  an  English  scholar  has  given  to 
*he  public  in  our  own  days,  and  which  is  still  perhaps  the 
''^s**  as  it  is  certainly  the  most  entertaining  book  ever 
written  upon  the  Uivina  Commedia*    Afterwards,  at  the 
Marchese's  request,     Benvenuto    composed   for   him   his 
j'*f>eUusAugustalis,  a  summary  of  the  Uves  of  the  Emperors 
from  Julius  to  Wenceslaus.   It  was  to  gratify  this  same 
AW^"^***  Fra  Niccold,  "  Master  of  Sacred  Theology  and 
Dot  of  Santa  Maria  da  GaveUo,"  wrote  in  the  vernacular 
a  species  of  universal  history  from  the  origin  of  the  world 
down  to  the  year    1367— the  Libra  del  Polistore,  already 
quoted.*   The  successor  of  Niccold  II,  the  Marchese  Alberto, 
summoned  the  learned  Donato  degU  Albanzani  of  Prato- 
ve^o,  who  (like     Benvenuto    da    Imola)  had    known 
e    ana  and  Boccaccio,  to  undertake  the  education  of  his 
th*^Str     **^^  }*ter,  there  came  from  Florence  a  branch  of 
ozzi,  flying  from  popular  violence  and  Medicean  guile. 

»  sSinS^  ^»»«««m.  xL  13  and  xiii.  i. 
ComoetUam,  editerf^***^**'  Comentum    super   DatUis   Aldigherit 
1887.  ^  Lacaita  and  W.  Warren  Vernon.     Florence, 


»  The  latter  portions 


days,  were  pubSh^°^' '***'*°^  '"**'  *^®  events  of  the  Monk's  own 
xxiv.  Alessandro  KT^^  Muratori,  Rerum  Italicarum  Scriptores,  vol. 
BiUioUca  BodUi  ^^^^'^  {CtUoUogo  dei  Manoscritti  Italiani  nella 
TiialioKhi  are  in******  **^-  ^7,  28)  has  shown  that  Muratori  and 
Bartdommeo  da  p'^'  ^^  ascribing  this  work  to  the  Dominican,  Fra 


17 


DUKES   AND   POETS   IN   FERRARA 

Nanni  Strozzi,  gallant  soldier  and  accbmplished  courtier — 
the  son  of  that  Carlo  Strozzi  who,  as  one  of  the  leaders  of  the 
Parte  Guelfa,  had  been  expelled  from  Florence  after  the 
Tumult  of  the  Ciompi — settled  at  Ferrara  towards  the  close 
of  the  fourteenth  century.  He  married  the  daughter  of  one 
of  the  noblest  Ferrarese  houses,  Costanza  de'  Costabili, 
served  the  Estensi  for  thirty  years,  and  died  fighting  under 
their  banner  in  a  war  against  Milan  in  1427.  We  shall  find 
the  children  and  grandchildren  of  Nanni  Strozzi  plajdng  no 
smaU  part  in  the  subsequent  history  of  the  Ferrarese  Court. 

And  in  the  following  century,  as  the  Renaissance  dawned, 
others  came  to  make  Ferrara  a  second  home  ;  from  Padua, 
the  Savonarola;  from  Sicily  and  Verona,  the  hvunanists 
Giovaimi  Aurispa  and  Guarino,  "  la  diva  Greda  rivelando."  * 

Besides  the  great  House  of  Gonzaga  of  Mantua,  to  which 
they  were  bound  by  ties  of  common  interest  and  frequent 
intermarriage,  there  gathered  round  the  sovereigns  of 
Este  a  group  of  lesser  princes,  also  connected  by  numerous 
marriages  with  Ferrara  and  with  petty  Courts  resembling 
theirs  upon  a  smaller  scale.  Such  were  the  Counts  of  Cor- 
reggio,  the  Pico  of  Mirandola,  the  Pio  of  Carpi,  and  the 
Boiardi,  citizens  of  Reggio,  feudal  lords  first  of  Rubiera  and 
then  of  Scandiano. 

Thus  was  gradually  constituted  the  pecuUar  society  of  the 
Court  of  Este,  which  during  the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth 
centuries  shone  with  such  a  blaze  of  artistic  Ught  that  it  still, 
to  some  extent,  dazzles  our  moral  eyesight,  and  which,  if  it 
can  hardly  be  said  to  have  inspired,  is  at  least  reflected  in 
the  work  of  the  two  great  romantic  poets  and  the  one  great 
epic  poet  of  the  Renaissance  in  Italy. 

^  Of.  Carducci,  Alia  CiUd  di  Ferrara  (in  RifM  0  RUmiyn 

18 


UNDER   THE    WHITE   EAGLE   OF    ESTE 
But,  before  turning  to  these  princes  of  the  Quattrocento 
and  Cinquecento,  a  few  general  remarks  must  be  made  upon 
the  State  and  government  of  Ferrara. 

There  was  a  darker  side  to  this  cultured  Court  life  of  the 
Ferrarese  capital.      The  beginning  of  each  reign  was  marked 
by  palace  conspiracies  and  followed  by  sanguinary  execu- 
tions.   The  papal    investiture  of  the  vicariate  of  Ferrara 
frequently  induded  several  members  of  the  family;  brother 
succeeded  brother,    and  bastardy  was  held  no  obstacle. 
There  were  nepliews,   therefore,  sons  bom  to  brothers  in 
lawful  wedlock,   who  saw  themselves  supplanted  by  their 
uncles,  and  the  palaces  thronged  with  discontented  bastards 
of    Este,  who    saw   in  these  young  princes   a  chance  of 
bettering  their   own  position.    Sometimes  these  legitimate 
scions  of  the  House  fled  from  Ferrara  to  other  States,  and 
attempted  to  maintain  their  claim  with  foreign  aid.    At 
other  times  the  unfortunate  nephew  stood  his  ground,  and 
was  led  into  a  conspiracy  against  his  successful  kinsman. 
In  these  cases  no  mercy  was  ever  shown.    When  Alberto, 
legitimated  son  of  Obizzo  III  and  Lippa  Ariosti,  succeeded 
his  elder  hrother  Niccolo  II  in  1388,  there  was  a  nephew 
Obizzo— the  lawful  issue  of  another  brother  Aldobrandino 
by  his  wife,  Beatrice  da  Camino.    This  prince,  who  had  a 
large  following  in  the  city,  took  occasion  of  his  uncle's 
absence  from  Ferrara  shortly  after  his  accession  to  plot 
against  his  Ufe.     On  Alberto's  return,  the  plot  was  dis- 
covered.   Obizzo  and  his  mother  were  beheaded  at  night 
in  the  dungeons  of  the  newly  erected  CasteUo  Vecchio,  and 
then,  with  the  most  rigid  regard  for  form  and  ceremony, 
solemnly  buried  with  full  honours  in  the  church  of  the  Friars 
Minor.    Their  confederates— including  Giovanni  d'Este,  a 
bastard  brother  of  Alberto's  own,  and  his  wife-were  pubUdy 

19 


DUKES   AND    POETS   IN   FERRARA 

tortured  to  death  in  the  streets  and  squares  of  Ferrara,  and 
a  noble  lady,  Costanza  dei  Quintavalli,  was  burned  alive.* 

"  The  feeling  of  the  Ferrarese  towards  the  ruling  House,'* 
writes  Burckhardt,  *'was  a  strange  compound  of  silent 
dread,  of  the  truly  Italian  sense  of  well-calculated  interest, 
and  of  the  loyalty  of  the  modem  subject."  In  theory  the 
people,  represented  by  the  Judge  of  the  Sages,  confirmed  each 
succession  by  solemnly  consigning  the  sword  and  sceptre  to 
the  new  Prince,  and  before  the  high  altar  of  the  Duomo 
received  his  solemn  oath  of  maintaining  justice ;  in  reality 
the  government  was  an  absolute  despotism,  though  usually 
of  a  benevolent  type.  There  was  less  even  of  the  appear- 
ance of  communal  liberty  in  Ferrara  than  in  almost  any 
other  State  of  northern  or  central  Italy.  No  popular 
councils  appear  even  to  have  been  simcunoned  during  the 
two  centuries  with  which  we  are  concerned.  The  adminis- 
tration of  the  city  was  in  the  hands  of  a  small  council,  the 
College  of  the  Twelve  Sages,  which  was  presided  over  by  the 
Judge  of  the  Sages,  who  was  appointed  by  the  sovereign  and 
held  office  at  his  pleasure.  The  Sages  held  office  for  a  year, 
and  occasionally,  in  affairs  of  great  importance,  some  six  or 
more  additional  members,  aggiunti^  were  added  to  their  coun- 
cil— all  nominated  by  the  sovereign.  A  recent  writer  on 
Ferrara  in  the  fifteenth  century  observes  that  this  Coimcil 
of  the  Sages  in  reality  is  nothing  more  than  "  a  body  of 


*  Details  of  these  horrors  in  Frizzi,  iii.  p.  377.  For  similar  atro- 
cities, on  a  smaller  scale,  on  the  accession  of  Alberto's  elder  brother 
Aldobrandino  in  1352,  when  Francesco  di  Bertoldo  d'Este  (grandson 
of  the  Marchese  Francesco,  whom  the  Catalans  murdered  in  131 2) 
attempted  to  obtain  the  lordship,  see  Lihro  del  Polistore,  coll.  827, 
828.  This  Francesco's  son  Azzo  in  his  turn  conspired  against  the 
son  of  Alberto,  Niccol6  III.  Even  more  dramatic  examples  will 
be  found  at  the  beginning  of  the  reigns  of  Ercole  I  and  Alfonso  I. 

20 


UNDER    THE   WHITE   EAGLE    OF   ESTE 
magistrates  of  the  Marquis,  delegated  to  direct  aU  the 
communal  business  at  the  expense  of  the  Commune." » 
The  Judge  and  the  Sages  were  paid  at  the  expense  of  the 
Commune,  and  every  decision  of  the  CoUege  that  did  not 
please  the  Excellence  of  the  Marquis  or  Duke  was  at  once 
overruled.    The  direction  of  the  financial  administration  of 
the  State  was   entrusted  to  the  FaUori  Generali.    These 
officials  were  usuaUy  Ferrarese  nobles,  chosen  by  the  sove- 
reign to  hold  office  during  his  pleasure.    They  were  two  in 
number  in  the  fifteenth  and  early  sixteenth  centuries  (three 
later  in  the  days  of  Alfonso  II),  one  mainly  to  superintend 
the  financial  affairs  of  the  capital,  the  other  of  the  dependent 
cities  and  towns.       These  faUori  appear  usually  to  have 
appointed  the  minor  officers  and  lesser  functionaries.    They 
not  infrequently  bought  their  posts,  and  in  many  cases  were 
corrupt  and  extortionate  in  the  extreme.    It  was  the  policy 
of  the  princes  to  tlircw  all  the  blame  and  odium  upon  these 
officers ;  in  1385  there  had  been  a  popular  rising  in  which 
Niccold  II  and  Alberto  had  been  forced  to  surrender  the 
most  unpopular  of  their  ministers,  Tonunaso  da  Tortona,  to 
be  torn  to  pieces  by  the  mfuriated  crowd.    It  was  after  this 
event  that  the  great  Castle  of  San  Michele,  now  known  as 
the  Castdlo  Vecchio,  was  erected ;  though  the  Estensi  con- 
tinued to  hold  their  Court  in  the  Corte  Vecchia,  what  is  now 
the    Palazzo   del   Municipio,   which  had   been   begrm  by 
A^zo  Novdlo  m  1242,  after  the  great  siege  of  Ferrara  which 
had  left  his  famUy  firmly  planted  on  the  throne.    Never- 
tbdess,the  financial  system  did  not  work  worse  than  in  the 
other  aties  of  Italy  ;    it  was  sufficiently  good  to  allow, 
according  to  a  recent  writer,  large  sums  to  be  gathered  up  in 

X  G.  Secco  Suardo,  Lo  Studio  di  Ferrara  a  tutto  il  secolo  xv.,  p-  ^  SO- 

21 


DUKES   AND    POETS    IN   FERRARA 

the  coffers  of  the  State  without  putting  too  great  a  burden 
upon  the  resources  of  the  citizens.^ 

In  spite  of  the  series  of  horrible  tragedies  that  stained  the 
palaces  of  the  ruling  House,  notwithstanding  the  secret  and 
mysterious  murders  into  which  no  court  of  justice  dared  to 
pry,  there  was  no  State  in  Italy  where  the  sovereigns  were 
more  beloved  or  more  loyally  served  by  their  subjects.  In 
case  of  war,  the  Estensi  could  arm  their  people  and  trust  in 
their  loyalty  no  less  than  in  the  trained  skill  of  their  hired 
mercenaries.  Though  the  Ferrarese  hated  one  Judge  of  the 
Sages  worse  than  the  devil  and  cut  more  than  one  Fattore 
to  pieces,  they  did  not  lay  their  extortions  to  the  charge  of 
the  sovereign.  In  the  last  days  of  the  Estensian  rule,  under 
the  second  Alfonso  in  1578,  the  Venetian  ambassador  wrote 
that  the  lower  classe3,  la  genie  mintUa,  seldom  attempted 
to  smuggle  or  evade  the  customs ;  "  wherefore,  since  each  pays 
what  he  should,  the  revenues  are  large,  and  they  will  become 
even  greater  by  reason  of  the  reclaiming  of  the  coimtry  near 
the  seashore."  * 

The  sovereigns  were  loud  in  professions  of  solicitude  for 
their  subjects*  welfare,  were  desirous  for  them  to  be  richer 
than  those  of  any  other  Italian  State,  encouraged  trade  and 
generously  supported  education.  Like  the  Medici  in 
Florence,  it  was  the  policy  of  the  Lords  of  Ferrara  to  dazzle 
their  subjects  with  pageantry,  perhaps  less  from  artistic 
motives  than  from  a  desire  to  impress  upon  them  the 
splendour  and  the  glory  of  their  illustrious  House. 

In  the  other  cities  of  his  dominions,  the  sovereign  took 

1  Pietro  Sitta,  Saggio  sulle  isHtuzioni  finanziarie  del  ducato  esiense 
net  secoli  xv.  e  xvi.,  p.  97.  This  can  only  apply  to  certain  epochs  of 
singular  prosperity  in  the  State. 

*  Quoted  by  Sitta,  loc.  cit. 

22 


^NDER  THE  WHITE   EAGLE   OF   ESTE 


^^l>^r^^  ^^  ^^^  ^^^  minute  details  of  the  conduct  of  his 

^^tl5  X    '  ^^  representatives  were  obliged  to  furnish  him 

1>^^^^^     Sports,  sometimes  daily,  of  what  went  on.    Mere 

^^^Tiote   '  ^  ^^  ^  nobles,  were  forced  to  travel  from  the 

r^^^ce  ^  ^^^^^  of  the  Duchy  to  Ferrara,  to  answer  the 

/^^  ^pti-  ^^^'^^^  ^^  *^  appeal  to  him  from  the  decisions  of 

^^  ^^fe     ^^  commissaries.*    The  whole  Ufe  and  being  of 

^  ^Ve^  '^^  made  dependent  upon  the  will  and  person  of 

a^'^^^^^ses  ^'  '"^'^ei^^  was  practised  to  a  high  degree.    Two 
rw.    ^^ts    ^    ^^^   Estensi  had  been  raised  to  the  altars 
J^^Pie.*    '^^  ^^ir  shrines  were  highly  revered  by  the 
^^*  ^ien   ^'    ^^^^^^,  was  known  to  cry  aloud  from  her 
^^^-    Xb^  ^^^    special  danger  threatened  the  city  or  its 
^opes  from'^^^  ^^  ^^^^  instrumental  in  the  return  of 
^'  the  Xempor'^^^^^^' ^^^  "^  *^® '^^^^S  up  of  the  fabric 
Professedly  dexT^^     I^ower   that  had  followed.    They  were 
^^^  frequentiv        ^^^  *^  ^^  service  of  their  papal  suzerains, 
return.    They  ,^^^^^ived  the  gift  of  the  Golden  Rose  in 
convents  and  m       ^^  lavish  in  donations  to  the  Church  ;  new 
ceremonies  of   ^^^^^^eries  arose  on  every  side  ;  the  rites  and 
the  State,  and  v^       l^oUcism  were  a  part  of  the  functions  of 
members  of  the  ir^T ^  <^^^^  out  with  the  utmost  pomp.    The 
^^^^g  House  f  oUowed  the  Blessed  Sacrament 
1  This  vras  uxo^^ 
Alfonso  I-    ^*^^^^«4.x^?*t!*^y  *^®  case  in  the  reigns  of  Ercole  I  and 
to  tlie  io^^  ^^   cix^   instances  wiU  be  found  in  Boiardo's  reports 
wHen  goveriJor  ^^   ^^^^.^^^^  ^^   Reggio,  and  in  Ariosto's  letters, 
^  TO  Beata.  :&^^  Garfegnana,  to  the  latter. 
«,l«r   oi  ^^f^^^^.   ^^1'  daughter  of  Azzo  VI  (the  first  Estensian 
\^ello.    ^^^  ^e    rffJ^l.^^  B^trice  II,  a  daughter  of  Azzo 
^^  orii^cesa^ua  r^J^T^      "^  "^^  sanctity  was  claimed  for  many 
^rSiOta  ^  «^V  ^^^,T^  ^  1^  connected  with  the  Estensi, 
i^eM'^''^  ^^  M^J^.  apotheosis  in  the  curious^church  oi 

23 


DUKES    AND    POETS    IN    FERRARA 

in  procession  through  the  city  on  the  feast  of  the 
Domini,  and  blasphemy  was  a  penal  offence*     A 
chapel  was  reared  to  the  Blessed  Virgin  in  the  cour^^ 
ducal  palace,  with  a  much  venerated  picture  of  lr~i 
worked  countless  miracles.     The  princes  were  as  ^^ 
hunting  out  nuns  conspicuous  for  their  piety  to  a( 
Ferrarese  convents,  as  zealous  in  welcoming  spiritual 
with  a  reputation    for  heroic  sanctity,  as   they  ^ 
procuring   men   of   fine  stature  and  strength    to 
balestrien  or  crossbowmen,  or  in  obtaining  rare  t^ 
animals    for    their   menagerie.      At    the  same    tit*^ 
of  them  appear    to  have  attempted   to  rival   Solo*=^^^^ 
the  numbers  of  their  concubines,   and   their   ille^^*^ 
children  still  baffle  the  computation  of  historians 
lasciva  was  a  recognized  part  of  the  Court  expens^^ 
until  the  death  of  Duke  Borso  in  1471,  it  was  q' 
exception  for  the  reigning  sovereign  to  have  been  • 
wedlock. 

From  the  beginning  of  their  rule  in  Ferrara,  a  ' 
poetry  had  shone  round  the  Court  of  the  Estensr 
troubadours  of  Provence,  the  singers  in  the  langue 
the  thirteenth  century,  had  found  generous  and  co: 
patrons  and   protectors   in   Azzo  VI   and  Azzo 
Aimeric  de  Peguilhan  had  sung  the  praises  of  BeatriQ^'^^T  : 
Giovanna,  the  daughter  of  the  one  and  the  first  wife  ^* 
other ;   the  beauty  of  Costanza  d'Este — daughter  of     .  ^H^ 
Novello  and  wife  of  that  Omberto  Aldobrandeschi         **o 
whom  Dante  held  converse  in  the  first  terrace  of  the  I^     ^^h 
tain  of  Purgation — was  raised   to   the  skies  by   RaJi^^^^^ 
Bistors  of  Aries,        An  Italian  trovatore,  Ferrarina^     k*^^ 
frequented  the  Court  of  Obizzo  II  and  Azzo  VII^s^^^^<3 
compiled   the   famous  anthology  of   Provencal   sop     ^^ 

24 


UNDER      THE  WHITE   EAGLE   OF   ESTE 

preserved  in  the  Biblioteca  Estense  at  Modena.*  But 
Ferrara  produc^ed  no  real  poet  in  the  fourteenth  century, 
no  lyrist  of  th^  doke  stil  nuovo,  no  singer  of  the  philosophy 
of  love  to  msL-tch  even  the  lesser  lights  among  the  Tuscans 
and  the  Bologxiese.  Antonio  dei  Beccari,  the  quasi  poeta 
(as  Franco  Sa-criehetti  calls  him)  of  Ferrara  in  the  Trecento, 
adored  the  mexiaory  of  Dante  and  carried  on  a  correspondence 
in  sonnets  wl-tt  Petrarca,  upon  the  false  report  of  whose 
death  he  corrx  jDosed  a  well-known  canzone  ;  but  he  stands 
practically  aloxxe,  and  wisely  claims  only  a  very  modest  place 
for  hiniself.*  jjalf  a  century  of  humanism  and  classical 
culture  call  it:  pedantry,  if  you  will — was  needed  for  the 
lyrics  and  the  poetical  romance  of  Boiardo,  the  latter  itself 
but  a  prelude    -to  the  epics  of  Ariosto  and  Tasso. 

^  ^^l\^  ^"t^x-ature  of  this  subject,  the  Coltufa  Francese  Estense, 
which  <^oes  not  come  within  the  scope  of  the  present  volume,  see 
Q^  Bertom,  L^^  biblioteca  Estense  e  la  Coltura  Ferrarese,  etc.,  pp.  4, 
81-34- 

'  ^\  A^^^  ^^  ^^®  canzone  lo  ho  gid  letto  il  pianto  de*  Ttoiani, 
Antomo  <iescirr\>es  himself  as  : 

*  A.nton  de  i  Beccar,  quel  da  Ferrara, 
.  ^^€  poco  fa,  ma  volentieri  impara." 
petrarca  K  ^"^f  -  ^c^-  Senilium,  ui.  7)  speaks  of  him  as  "  that  friend 
of  ox^X^^  y^^^^ohXt  genius,  but  distracted  in  too  many  things," 
and  ^^  ZrT^  ^"^  sonnets  to  him.  He  died  in  1370.  '  In  the 
previo^^  J^^^^  an  Anselmo  da  Ferrara,  by  whom  is  a  sonnet  in 
tVie  K*^^  T:*'^  ^  Po^^^  Ferraresi  (p.  i),  had  corresponded  with  Fra 


25 


Chapter  II 

PRINCES  AND  HUMANISTS 

AT  the  beginning  of  the  fifteenth  century — ^while,  at 
Florence,  Lorenzo  Ghiberti  was  casting  his  bronze 
doors  for  the  Baptistery  and  Cosimo  de'  Medici  was  preparing 
to  overthrow  the  Republic — Ferrara  was  ruled  by  the  third 
Marchese  Niccold  da  Este,  nominally  as  Vicar  of  the  Church 
and  feudatory  of  the  Pope,  practically  as  absolute  sovereign. 
Niccold  was  the  twelfth  Marquis  of  the  House  of  Este  who 
thus  held  the  Ferrarese  lordship.  Like  several  of  the 
most  famous  princes  of  his  family,  he  was  not  bom  in  ived- 
lock,  but  was  the  legitimated  son  by  Isotta  Albaresani,  a 
Ferrarese  lady,  of  the  Marchese  Alberto— that  devout  and 
bloodstained  Alberto  whose  somewhat  mean  statue  in 
pilgrim's  dress  still  frowns  on  the  fagade  of  the 
holding  the  Golden  Rose  that  had  been  bestowed  u 
by  Pope  Boniface  IX.^  Succeeding  his  father  in  139; 
a  boy  of  ten  years  old,  Niccold  had  been  subject  to  a 
of  regency  until  1402,  and  in  the  meanwhile  there  h^ 

^  The  Bull  of  Boniface  IX,  confirming  the  concessio] 
vicariate  of  the  city  of  Ferrara  and  its  county  and  district  tc:::^^ 
Marquis  of  Este  and   his  sons  ad  vitam,  under  the  annui 
(census)  of  ten  thousand  golden  florins,  is  dated  May 
Niccold,  de  soluto  geniius  et  soluta,  is  only  to  succeed  in  t^ 
(quod  absit)  of  Alberto    dying  without    legitimate  sons, 
legitimated  (Theiner,  Codex  DiplomaHcus,  iii.  pp.  16-21), 

26 


^Sfc 


PRINCES    AND   HUMANISTS 

^"«g:Ie  to  preserve  the  throne  from  the  attacks  of  a 

^^^c/j^'  ^^  di  Francesco  d'Este,  from  the  conspiracies 

^^       /^^     y  ^he  citizens  themselves,  and  from  the  intrigues 

'^^'^^ticesc  ^^^^     ambitious     and    formidable    father-in-law, 

^^^Qijj   ^  ^ovello  da  Carrara,  that  last  Lord  of  Padua 

j^^.  ^^eu  ^.  j^^etian  hangman  strangled  in  1406. 

.^^^^Ja  ^^     ^^^   *te  government  was  placed  in  his  hands, 
^^^  ^^d  t^r^^^   ^^  of  nineteen  found  hunself  lord  of  the 


inci**^^  injp^j^'^''^  of  Ferrara,  which  he  held  from  the  Pope; 
^Udi^^  ^^^^^  ^  fiefs  of  Rovigo  and  Modena,  the  former 
^^cchio  rf^  ^^i^ara,  Adria  and    all    the   Polesme ;    of 


j/^*^^  to  be  the  cause  of  long  and  frequent 
^-*^x  years  ;  of  Argenta,  Lugo  and  Conselice 
^"^cn  years  later,  in  1409,  he  slew  Ottobuono 


a  confenesn,-;^^^'^  GhibeUine  tyrant  of  Panna  and  R^gio, 

ese  two  dti^^       ^=fc«neath  the  walls  of  Rubiera,  and  added 

Anosto  cal/e«i     i^*^  *"^  dominions.    Reggio,  the  giocondo,  as 

jewels  in  the  o^^,^*     remained  henceforth  one  of  the  choicest 

already  Won^^A^^  of  the  Estensi— to  whom,  indeed,  it  had 

the  thirteeatl^  ^^^»   as  we  have  seen,  during  the  latter  part  of 

themforafe^vv-   ^^»tuiy.    Paima,  which  had  been  held  by 

and  had  bea^^^     -^^^rs  in  the  middle  of  the  fomleenth  century, 

Mantua,*  wa^  ^^^^'^  *^"^  °*  *  ^^  "^^  ^^^'  Verona  and 

obtained  frot^^  ^'^ed  to  Milan  in  1420.    In  1423  Rubiera  was 

in  1440  Bagtx.^^  ^Ixe  Boiardi  in  exchange  for  Scandiano,  and 

from  pope  ;6:x:^^^-^allo  and  Massalombarda  were  purchased 

illustrious    J^^^^^Hivis  IV.    Thus   were  the  dominions  of  the 

Veccliioo^"^^:j^JJ*^*     consolidated,   and   from  the  Castello 

whicti  '*'^  ^V^     ^»J:-a,  which  his  father  Alberto  had  built,  and 

X  Xne  v»ai  tVx^         ^*  *^^  northern  extremity  of  the  citvMth 

rtoK»  ♦»•**•  tKDre  Uterary  fruit  in  Petrarca's  sublim^nzone. 


27 


DUKES   AND   POETS   IN   FERRARA 

magnificent  gardens  stretching  dovm  to  the  banks  ^/J I 
Po,  Niccold  d'Este  ruled  over  a  rich  and  noble  StaXi/Wf 
aspired,  with  a  considerable  measure  of  success,  to     j^^ 
the  balance  of  power  between  the  greater  sovereign^  ahb 
republics  of  Italy. 

When  once  seated  firmly  upon  the  throne  with  his  States 
consolidated,  Niccold  was  a  prudent  ruler,  and,  after  *tfofi. 
conclusion  of  a  brief  and  tmimportant  war  with  Milan,  ivhich 
ended  in  1428,  and  in  which  he  had  commanded  the  forces 
of  the  Italian  League,  Ferrara  became  the  most  peaceful 
city  of  Italy.    He  was  frequently  appealed  to  as  arbitrator 
by  other  princes.    At  the  beginning  of  1424  the  Florentines 
and  Filippo  Maria  Visconti  submitted  their  quarrels  to  him, 
and  his  instructions  to  his  ministers  for  the  reception  of  the 
ambassadors  afford  a  curious  picture  of  the  homely  methods 
of  the  day.    On  January  27,  the    Marquis  writes   to  his 
FaUori  from  his  villa  at  Quartisana :  "  On  the  third  day  of 
this  next  coming  February,  the  Ambassadors  of  the  Duke  of 
Milan  and  those  of  the  Florentines  are  to  come  to  Ferrara, 
to  negotiate  the  peace  which  we  have  in  our  hands.     We  are 
certain  that  they  will  not  wish  to  stay  in  the  same  hostelry ; 
and  therefore  we  would  have  you  send  for  Antonio  Galgano, 
the  host  of  the  Angela  and  for  the  other  of  the  Swan,  and 
arrange  with  them  that  they  get  ready  those  two  or  three 
rooms  which  you  and  they  shall  think  necessary,  or  more,  if 
they  believe  that  more  will  be  needed,  in  order  that,  v^hen 
the  said  Ambassadors  come,  they  may  find  in  both  those  two 
hostelries  the  things  in  order,  so  that  they  may  be  comfort- 
able and  may  have  good  and  fine  lodgings."  * 

*  Letter  of  January  27,  1424,  published  by  L.  A.  Gandini, 
Saggio  degli  usi  e  delle  costumanze  della  Corte  di  Ferrara  ai  tempo  di 
Niccold  III,  p.  163. 

28 


PRINCES   AND    HUMANISTS 

^^d   j||J^^"eD%  had  Niccold  to  interpose  bet^ 

"^^^^U^^^*  between  whom  in  these  years  there  was  "  per- 

^^^    ^*^aiTeIs  and  immortal  hatreds,"  and  on  these  occa- 

j^^^^-ovqi    ^'^'^peachable    impartiality    excited    general 

c^^^^cio^.  '^^ce  it  came  about,"  writes  Enea  Silvio 

^  **^t   ^'  afterwards  that  noblest  of  pontifis,  Pius  II, 

^^Tf;^^        ougix    all   Lombardy   was   ablaze   with   wars, 

^     ^-     i;.    ^  ^'^^  ^^  adjacent  parts  of  its  dominion  enjoyed 

j>  ^^    t6^.     ^  whoso  willed  a  passage  was  granted,  pro- 

Pe^^^y    *®    passed    through  without   doing   harm."^ 

ba     ^  ^^    f    *^ia.t  the  Ferrarese  saw  of  the  interminable 

^^^^^<>^  of       ^^y  ^^  ^e  coming  and  going  of  the  am- 

,^^  Or  ^^     ^   "v-arious  Powers,  who  came  to  Ferrara  to 

faf  ^^qJt^^  ^^^  ^^"^  ^*  P^^- 

^  ^"^  •  '^^ttiself  is  described  by  Enea  Silvio  as  "  a     \ 


Ren 


man, 
'^  of 


blen^r-'^^^y- 


Si^^nuptolust." 


His  character  is  a  ciuious 


^aissance  cuit^^^^^  ferocity  with  the  first  germs  of 
gious  feeling  wit-i^^^*  ^^  apparently  perfectly  genuine  reli- 
^ther  princes  of  v^  -  *^^  most  unbridled  sensuahty.  Like 
^^^S>  for  pageant  House,  his  great  passions  were  for  travel- 

In  the  last  resj>^^^  ^^^  gorgeous  display,  and  for  women. 
Caleffini,  in  hi^  ^  i^  *^^  ^PPetite  was  quite  insatiable.  Ugo 
says  that  Niccol  a  r^^"^^  chronicle  of  the  House  of  Este, 
have  made  the  ixxj^  ^^  ^^^^  hundred  mistresses,  and  would 
This  is  P^^^^^^^x^.Ki  ^  **^ousajid,  had  he  not  died  so  soon.* 
exalt  the  Estetx^^  J^  ^  courtly  exaggeration,  intended  to 
.  -1  rlv  ^mtes  *r^  ^^^  ^^^^^  ^^  Solomon  ;  but  Enea  SUvio 
^"!^bU.es,  axxa  ^'  ''^.  ^^^-^   ^ept  whole   troops  of 

as  qmte   indiscriminate  in  his  choice. 


co: 


soxiapo' 


P-  286.     ••  L'era  tropo  amoroso  la  per- 
29 


DUKES   AND   POETS   IN   FERRARA 

"  plebeians  and  countrywomen  no  less  than  nobles."  ^  He 
appears  to  have  acknowledged  between  twenty  and  thirty 
illegitimate  children. 

In  the  spring  of  1413  Niccold  undertook  a  pilgrimage 
to  Jerusalem,  which  has  been  fully  described  for  us  by  one 
of  his  company,  a  certain  Luchino  dal  Campo,  who  acted  as 
chancellor  on  the  voyage,  in  a  narrative  which  is  one  of  the 
most  vivid  pictures  extant  of  the  delights  and  dangers  of 
travelling  in  the  early  days  of  the  fifteenth  century.*  The 
whole  tour  took  exactly  three  months,  the  party  starting 
from  Ferrara  on  April  6,  and  reaching  home  again  on  July  6. 
They  set  out  from  Venice  in  a  Venetian  galley  captained  by 
Pietro  Contarini,  and,  sailing  or  rowing  as  the  wind  was 
favoiU"able  or  contrary,  they  passed  down  the  Adriatic,  and 
by  the  Ionian  Islands  and  the  islands  of  the  Archipelago, 
visiting  the  antiquities  of  Pola  and  wondering  at  the  stags 
of  Cherso,  delighting  in  the  singing  of  the  Greek  monks  at 
Corfu  and  in  the  supper  given  by  the  Venetian  governor 
in  his  orange-garden  ;  equally  interested  in  seeing  the  place 
where  Carlo  Zeno  defeated  the  Genoese  and  the  site  of  the 
rape  of  Helen  by  Paris.  They  visited  Rhodes,  coasted 
Cyprus,  and  at  last  reached  the  coast  of  Syria  about  twenty 
miles  from  Jaffa  on  the  morning  of  May  11.  The  Marquis 
passed  himself  off  as  Niccold  Contarini,  brother  of  the  captain 
of  the  galley,  and  their  visit  to  the  Holy  City,  which  they 
reached  on  May  15  and  left  on  May  19,  gives  occasion  for  a 
wonderfully  convincing  picture  of  the  prepotency  and 
extortion  of  the  Turks,  the  devotion  of  the  Franciscan 

*  Historia  Friderici  III  ImpercUoris,  p.  95. 

^  Viaggio  a  Gerusalemme  di  Niccold  da  Este^  descritto  da  Luchino 
dal  Campo,  edited  by  G.  Ghinassi  for  the  R.  Commissione  pe*  testi  di 
lingua  nelle  provincie  dell*  Emilia.     Turin,  1861. 

30 


*?«^4 


PRINCES    AND   HUMANISTS 

^^>^  Ij^      ^^  th&  Ho]y  Places,  the  mixture  of  credulity  and 
^     t^^^^^ff^j      P^^^rims.as  they  were  shown  the  possible  and 
^^o^}^         5;fes  of  the  scenes  of  sacred  history  and  mediaeval 
;]^^rto  wif  ^^^^^    at  the  Holy  Sepulchre,  Niccolo  dubbed 
S^^lo.^    Feltrino    Boiardo/  Pietro  Rossi  and 


t\^i 


^etfa 


s  r^etinue,  knights  (the  first-named  renouncing 


3^aici  at  th  ^^^^^h*^<^d  in  order  that  he  might  receive  it 

on  Afount  r  *~^^^*i  spot),  himself  girding  on  the  swords,  and 
them  ever  ^-^^^~y  he  bound  on  tlieir  golden  spurs,  bidding 
knighttiood  ^  «-  ^*^*^l>er  where  they  had  received  the  order  of 
he  also  was  a.  i^  "^^^-^t:er  this  the  aforesaid  lord,  who,  although 
had  ever  wait  *^^^t,  had  never  borne  the  spurs  of  gold,  but 

willed  that  in  -e  >-.  }«itil  he  came  on  this  most  holy  voyage, 
f      tentbeoae  *^*s  place  Messer  Alberto  della  Sala  should 

"Kl^    saying  tlx         ^^  ^  ^^  ^'^  '*^^^  ^°^^'  ^  being  the  more  honour- 
Tacop^  ot     ^—^  would  go  to  have  the  right  spurred  at 

.  ^^by^l^G  X^  S^  voyage,  they  were  sumptuously  enter- 
^^^7  ^X^^^  ^^^^^xx  *^S  o^  Cyprus,  when  the  Marquis  exhibited 
l^^       ^V^  l^ii-v^^  ^^  drawing  a  mighty  bow  that  the  King 


\t^' 


d    &' 

eiy 


draw 


it: 


l^ast  his  ear,  whereas  ordinary  men  could 


\>^^         o^^^^^\^       ^  span.     At  a  solemn  supper  party 
J^^^  Up^^  ^^^^  ^^  Cyprus^  peacocks  were  set  upon  the 

a^  V<5^-  __   tieacocks  the  newly  made  knights  and  others 

t^^^^^jtia,  t^  ^^^  Marquis  himself  swore  to  God,  lo  the 
^^ ^  place  ^j^^  ^int  George  and  to  the  peacock,  that  in  the 
f*-^^  a,t-artti^  in-^*^^  ^^  should  find  himself  in  the  company  of 
^^^^v.e  iaee   ^f^^unted.to  the  number  of  a  hundred 


^Jv^ 


Of 


or  more 


i^      ^dl^^  br^^^^  enemy,  his  should  be  the  first  lance  that 

^^       *^^n  against  these  enemies,  and  until  this  vow 

son  was  to  enshrine  this  pilgrimage  in  his  Orlando 

KXV.    52. 


f* 


-r*^ 


31 


DUKES   AND    POETS    IN    FERRAR/ 

should  be  accomplished,  he  promised  to  fast  ^vexy  /  j^y^^ 
Messer  Pietro  Rossi  vowed  that  he  would  never  lie/^^^^ss  <L 
were  for  the  State  of  his  Lord,  or  to  save  his  own  life  or  that 
of  any  intimate  friend  of  his,  and  for  a  remembrance  o\  'tKia 
vow  he  midertook  always  to  say  an  Ave  Maria  when  lie  saw 
a  painted  picture  of  Our  Lady.     One  of  the  household  of  tlie 
Marquis,  Spinello,  swore  to  aid  any  distressed  woman  vrVio 
should   ask    him,  provided    that   she  deserved  the     naxne 
of .  woman  —  alcuna   donna     che    meriti    aver     ttoftie      di 
donna} 

In  the  following  year,  apparently  instead  of  ttie    Com- 
postela  sanctuary,  a  similar  pilgrimage  was  undertaken  to 
the  shrine  of  St.  Anthony  at  Vienne,  when  the  Marquis  viras 
attended  by  Feltrino  Boiardo  and  a  party  of  gentlemen 
pictiuresquely  clad  in  bright  green,  and  courteously  received 
by  the  King  of  France  at  Paris.     On  their  return,  the  whole 
party  was  seized  by  the  Marchese  Manfredo  del  Carretto  di 
Cera,  in  Piedmont,  who  offered  to  sell  them  bodily  to  the 
Duke  of  Milan,  who  had  not  yet  recovered  Parma.     The 
Count  of  Savoy  promptly  forced  the  robber  noble  to  surrender 
his  prey,  and,  in  spite  of  Niccol6's  generous  intercession, 
he  beheaded  the  chief  criminal  and  razed  his  castle   to  the 
grotmd.    These  were  by  no  means  the  only  pilgrimages 
that  Niccolo  undertook — the  Santa  Casa  of  Loreto  and  the 
Annunziata  of  Florence  likewise  attracted  his  fitful    and 
eccentric  devotion. 

But  although  he  made  these  pious  vows  and  listened 
gladly  to  the  preaching  of  San  Bernardino  of  Siena,  he 
made    no    pretence    of    altering   his    life.     His    adulteries 

*  Cf.  Dante,  Vita  Nuova,  §  19,  who  will  write  his  canzone  **  a 
donne  in  seconda  persona ;  e  non  ad  ogni  donna,  ma  solaxnente  a 
coloro^  che  sono  gentili,  e  non  sono  pur  fenunine." 

32 


PRINCES   AND    HUMANISTS 
-f^Qj^.     ^  ^ve  continued  uninterruptedly  until   a   few 

^^^  Ca  ^*  marriage  with   the   ill-favoured   Gigliola 


^Vif  ,  ^  ^as  childless  and  unhappy.  She  died  in  141 6 
^^^s  i^^  ^^^  ^fe  the  Marquis  had  a  goodly  family  of 
^^Hessei^  ^^  ^™  ^^^^  ^^^^^  women.  By  the  beautiful 
^^rrj  ^  ^^y  Stella  dell'  Assassino,  he  had  Ugo  AJdobrandino 
,  '*'^3X     ^  "^^5),  LeoneUo  (bom  in  1407),  and  Borso  {born  in 


^eliad 


■i       -*  Vea         -^^e   (born    in   1406,   the  senior  of   Leonello 

^^^    ^Uro^^^  ^^rrarese  physician;  Alberto  (bom  in  1415) 
^^'^^^^  ^!i,^^^  were  the   fmit  of    his  adultery  with 


J^ea         v»Juiii    in    1400,    me   senior   01    j^trorii^uo 

^S'tite^     ^^^  J^  child  by  Caterina  dedi  Albaresani,  the 


^eZ^^^  Tavola, 


.         *^ep 

^^^  M^ere  tr  ^^'^^  *^*  Madonna  SteUa  had  borne  the  Mar- 
^  chiif}-  ^*^^   "y  hiin  as  though  they  were   his  legiti- 

as  *K-.  ^'  ^^tx 


were  regarded  by  all  the  city  in  that 

*^3.t  of  an**!^*^   ^*  ^^^  Aldobrandino  had  been  celebrated 

^^^ortio,   the       <--  ^^  ^tate.     At  his  christening  in  the 


^^ssa,  afternr; 


^x-dinal 


Legate  of  Bologna  (Baldassare 
^mini  and  Jl^^^^*^  ^^P^  John  XXI 11)  and  the  Lords  of 
3.nd  ambassa^ci^^  ^^  ^^^  ^tood  sponsors  by  their  procurators 
Bishop  of  McKi^^*  together  with  Niccold  de*  Boiardi,  the 
city.  The  A.r^^  ^*  ^^  ^^^  name  of  the  community  of  his 
holiday*  ^^t^  V.  ^^  "^^^ds  of  Fenara  had  made  a  great 
the    BisJi^P  01      x>      ^"^^^^  ^tid  a  sumptuous  tournament  ; 


clergy. 


had 


Son, 


errara  (Pietro  de'   Boiardi),  with  aU  the 
^^  m  solemn    procession,^    The  Magnifica 

a  t>riciof^QP^  ^a.^*^^^'^^°^*'"^^y  called  FiUppa,  is  niinied  in 
««iritttal  iavovir^  .^^1.  dated  AprU  ^6,  1 471,  which  grants  various 
spinxi*         y  Alberto     Eatr^r^.l     ^f     r.^;ii.     „L;^.;.;     .„^ '' 


Camille    genitrici    sue ' 


-*-.  otatetn^j^^  ^^o-^nno/es    Estenses,  coll   1035,   1036.    The 
jacopo  (wriUng  with  authority  as  the  chaa- 


cxp 


33 


DUKES    AND    POETS    IN    FERRARA 

Madonna  Stella  herself  was  regarded  as  no  mere  light-o'i- 
love,  but  as  one  to  be  treated  with  all  honour.     Her  palace 
is  still  pointed  out  in  the  Via  della  Tromba.     It  is  highly 
probable  that,  on  the  death  of  the  Marchesana  Gigliola.^ 
Stella  expected  to  succeed  to  her  dignities.    She  was  bitterly 
disillusioned.      In    April,     1418,    Niccold    took     another 
wife — that  hapless  heroine  of  romantic  poetry.   Madonna 
Parisina  de'  Malatesta,  the  daughter  of  Andrea  de'  Mala- 
testa  and  Lucrezia  degli    Ordelaffi — and  brought  her  in 
triumph  from  Ravenna  to  Ferrara.    Stella's  death,  in  the 
July  of  the  following  year,  mercifully  saved  her  from  the 
sight  of  what  followed.^ 

cellor  of  the  Marquis  and  before  the  catastrophe  of  1425)  is  that 
Ugo  Aldobrandino  was  "  the  natural  son,  the  first  begotten  male, 
of  the  illustrious  and  magnificent  Lord  Niccold,  Marquis  of  Este,  by 
the  magnificent  Lady  Stella  dell'  Assassino."  And  similarly, 
Enea  Silvio  Piccolomini  {Historia  Friderici,  p.  94).  Writing  under 
Borso,  Ugo  Calefi&ni — for  obvious  reasons — implies  that  the  hapless 
prince  was  not  the  brother  of  his  sovereign,  but  the  son  of  Caterina 
Albaresani  (Cronaca  di  Casa  d*Este,  p.  285).  It  is  more  difficult  to 
comprehend  why  Bandello  {Novelle,  i.  37)  makes  Niccold's  grand- 
daughter, Bianca  di  Sigismondo  d'Este,  insist  that  Ugo  was  the 
legitimate  son  of  the  Marquis  by  his  first  wife,  Gigliola — unless  it 
be  merely  to  heighten  the  effect  of  the  tragedy. 

*  She  was  buried  in  state  in  San  Francesco  (JHario  Ferrarese,  col. 
184).  "Quanto  fo  bella  e  bonal"  writes  Caleffini  (he.  cii.),  "  de 
ogni  virtti  la  portd  corona."  Similarly,  Enea  Silvio  tells  us  that 
men  said  she  was  a  virtuous  and  wise  woman,  who  had  been  cor- 
rupted by  force  and  by  the  promise  of  marriage  (Hisioria  Friderict, 
p.  95).  In  the  Biblioteca  Estense  at  Modena  is  still  preserved  a 
Latin  poem  in  hexameters  in  honour  of  Stella,  dedicated  to  Gio- 
vanni degli  Assassini  by  Galeotto  Marzio  da  Narni  (Cod.  Lot.  66). 
The  Assassini  were  a  branch  of  the  Tolomei  of  Siena,  who  changed 
their  name  when  they  settled  in  Ferrara.  As  the  said  Galeotto 
Marzio  has  it : — 

"  Mutantes  patriam,  mutabunt  nomina  :  dicent 
Namque  Assassinos  Ptholemea  stirpe  creatos." 
Several  members  of   the  family  frequented  the  Ferrarese  Court 
during  the  fifteenth  century  (cf.  Bertoni,  op.  cit.  pp.  14,  25,  55,  64). 

34 


PRINCES  AND  HUMANISTS 

ii^^^^^csana  Parisina  bore  her  husband  one  son,  who 
^^tf  r       ^^^  ^  ^^^  weeks,  and  two  twin  daughterSj  Ginevra 


tier  in  •  —    — — ° —  — 

cia.    JTig  documents  still  preserved  in  the  Archivio 

,        ^a^Modena  show  her  to  have  been  an  ideal  great 


keei 


great 
^e  Middle  Ages.^  We  find  her  a  diligent  house- 
^^  att  '^^^  ^*"^*  account  of  the  linen,  taking  care  that 
^^"^  ^dants  of  her  stepsons  are  properly  attired.  She 
^^Utc/j  ^^®^*°&Iy  generous  to  the  poor,  bountiful  to  the 
^^'tiu       ^^    convents.    To  her  donzelle,   her  nmids-in- 


^^tti     '      ^    w-as  particularly  kind  and  generous,  finding 
.  ^  a  cJq        ^   ^^^bands,  providing  each  on  her   marriage 
^^y  d  ^^*  ^^^^^h  her  corredo  or  trousseau,  and  with  those 
^^  ^  feat  ^'^^.^^   ^^^^^^^  ^^  wedding-chests    that    formed 
.      P^els  ^^  ^^  bride's  equipment  in  Italy  and  of  which 

P^Ctuj.^  .        ^Jiiong  the  treasures  of  our  museums  and 

^*  ^  tnisted      ^^     to-day.      a  certain   Pellegrina,   daughter 
^^Wn  as  Z       ^^^^^^  of  the  Marquis,  one  Giacomo  Rubino 
^y   her  and     ♦-   ^'   appears  to  have  been  specially  favoured 
^casionofh^*^    ^^ted  with   the  utmost   generosity  on  the 
Was  a  lover   ^^^  ^^^arriage  at  the  beginning  of  1423.     I^arisina 
them  to  ra.c^     ^  hors^  and  had  a  notable  stable  ;  she  sent 
Milan,  and   J^      ^^  *^  polio  at  Verona,  Modena,  Bologna, 
favourite  Jck^Ic:         ^^.'  ^^^  especially  in  1422  and  1423  her 
of  red  and   Vv^v.-    *  Giovanni  da  Rimini,  wearing  her  colours 
she  took  pl^i^^^  ^'  carried  oil  victory  after  victory  .=*    Also 
The  Ferrariis^        ^^^  ^^  J^trnting  and  hawking.     We  find  her 
Count  Bmilio    -:?5foS'^t    ""^^    ^^*   ^^"^"^   ^^^her   Giavanni,    but 
that,i^^®  '^^^^^^^rds  of  th    x'^^^  ^^""^  ^''"^^''"  Douglas,  informs  me 
A.ntoni<>-  ^  Tolomei  of  Siena,  his  name  is  given  as 

1  See  G^^^Uii     c 

and  M8^''  ^^^^^Ijla  '^o^*   ^^'  ^  ^^^^^   cosiumame,  pp,  152^15/. 
docU^^^'  '     ^    ^  ^^r%sina  :  Storia  e  kggenda  secondo  nuot^^ 

35 


DUKES   AND   POETS   IN   FERRARA 

sending  to  foreign  cities  for  choice  perfumes,  for  rich  em- 
broideries and  personal  ornaments,  for  rare  birds  in  cages. 
But  of  her  moral  qualities  and  mental  endowments  we 
know  next  to  nothing.  She  loved  music,  especially  the 
harp,  upon  which  she  had  her  little  daughters  taught  to 
play.  We  read  of  Fra  Maginardo,  her  chaplain,  bu3dng 
a  psaltery  for  her,  and  of  a  cartolaro  Bartolonuneo  selling 
her  an  office  book  of  the  Madonna  covered  with  black  vel- 
vet.* If  she  read  at  all  in  books  of  a  Ughter  character, 
the  literary  fashion  of  her  husband's  Court  would  have  led 
her  to  dwell  upon  the  passion  of  Guenevere  and  Lancelot, 
the  guilty  loves  of  Tristram  and  Iseult.*  And  for  her,  like 
that  other  Romagnole  spirit  whom  Dante  met  in  the  Hell 
of  the  Lovers,  there  came  a  day  when  she  "  read  no  more." 
The  Marquis  brought  up  his  younger  sons  with  con- 
siderable rigidness  and  parsimony.  Borso  and  Meliaduse, 
when  studying  at  Bologna  and  Padua,  were  even  kept  short 
of  clothes  to  wear.  When  the  plague  threatened  Ferrara 
in  the  summer  of  1424,  their  father  sent  Meliaduse  to 
Modena  and  Borso  to  Argenta,  with  the  strictest  provisions 
about  the  number  of  servants  and  attendants  that  they 
might  have  about  them,  and  with  a  rigid  charge  to  the 
camarlingo  of  each  town,  in  whose  charge  they  were  put, 
not  to  let  them  have  friends  to  dine.'  But  for  Ugo  there 
seems  to  have  been  no  restriction  of  any  kind,  and  the 
registers  of  the  Court  expenses  in  these  very  years  show 
Niccold  and  Parisina  rivalling  each  other  in  caring  for  his 
wants  and  pleasures,  in  providing  him  with  clothes  and 
money,  horses  and  hawks,  even  with  a  harp— the  latter,  of 

•   *  Gandini,  op.  ciL  p.  152. 
*  Cf.  Bertoni,  op.  cit.  p.  19. 
'  See  documents  quoted  by  Gandini,  op.^oii.  pp.  158,  159. 

36 


PRINCES  AND  HUMANISTS 

course,  being  Parisina's  gift/  In  these  years  Leonello  was 
away  from  Ferrara,  having  been  sent  in  1422,  under  the 
care  of  Nanni  Strozzi,  to  study  the  art  of  war  at  Perugia 
under  the  famous  condottiere,  Braccio  da  Montone. 

All  contemporary  evidence  concerning  the  tragedy  that 
deprived  the  Marchese  Niccold  of  his  wife  and  heir  appears 
to  have  been  destroyed,  and  it  is  not  easy  to  distinguish 
between  fact  and  fiction  in  the  story  that  has  been  handed 
down  to  us.    All  that  is  certain  is  that  in  the  course  of  some 
journey  that  they  took  together— possibly  to  Ravenna, 
the  city  of  Francesca  and  Samaritana— Ugo  became  the 
lover  of  his  stepmother.    One  of  Parisina's  maids,  who  had 
been  beaten  by  her  mistress,  betrayed  the  secret  to  Giacomo 
Rubino— that  very  same  whose  daughter  had  been  treated 
with  such  generosity  and  affection  by  the  Marchesana— 
and  Giacomo  brought  the  Marques  to  a  place  where,  him- 
self unseen,  he  was  the  witness  of  his  own  dishonour.    His 
vengeance  was  prompt  and  terrible.    On  the  night  between 
May  20  and  May  21,  1425,  the  guilty  pair  were  arrested  in 
the  Corte  Vecchia,  and  conveyed  thence  to  the  Castello. 
There  are  two  horrible  dungeons  shown  in  the  Castello, 
beneath  the  Tower  of  the  Lions.    One,  a  little  higher  than 
the  other,  has  a  direct  conununication  with  the  outer  air 
of  the  court,  and  at  times  admits  a  faint  gleam  of  day. 
The  other  is  on  the  level  of  the  moat ;  its  floor  is  usually 
covered  with  muddy  water ;  it  receives  air  and  faint  light 
through  a  long  aperture  with  treble  barriers  of  iron  bars. 
The  tradition  has  it  that  into  these   ghastly    cells    the 
deUcately  nurtured  lady  and  her  princely  young  paramour 
were  thrown ;  but  it  has  recently  been  pointed  out  that 
the  only  two  records  that  can  in  any  sense  be  regarded  as 
*  Solerti,  op.  cit,  ii.  p.  65. 
37 


DUKES   AND   POETS   IN   FERRARA       m  / 

contemporary  both  agree  that  the  place  of  their  iit/ >^y23K»!7' 
ment  was  the  so-called  Torre  Marchesana,  the   tower  m 
which  at  the  present  time  the  great  clock  is  placed.^   Either 
way,  their  imprisonment  was  brief.    The  Maxqiiis  rei\ised 
to  admit  either  wife  or  son  to  his  presence  again,  and  the 
intercession  of  his  most  trusted  advisers,   Uguccione  de' 
Contrari  and  Alberto  ddla  Sala,  proved  unavailing.      On  the 
night  of  May  21,  Ugo  and  Parisina  died  by  the  headsman's 
axe  in  the  Torre  Marchesana.    Ugo  perished   first.     Then 
Parisina  was  led   to  her   death  by  that  same  Giacomo 
Rubino  by  whom  she  had  been  betrayed.     Thinking  that 
she  was  going  to  be  thrown  into  an  oubliette  or  trabocchetto, 
she  kept  asking  if  she  had  yet  reached  the  place.      She 
asked  after  her  lover,  and,  hearing  that  he  was  already 
dead,  exclaimed,  "  Then  I  no  more  wish  to  live."     Wheiv 
she  came  to  the  block,  she  laid  aside  her  ornaments,  and 
with  her  own  hands  prepared  her  neck  for  the  stroke.    TYie 
same  night  their  bodies  were  brought  to  San  Francesco 
and  quietly  buried  there.    Aldobrandino  Rangoni,     -who 
had  been  Ugo's  friend  and  accomplice,  suffered  the   same 
doom  at  Modena.^ 

All  that  night  the  unhappy  father  and  husband  paced 
up  and  down  the  halls  and  passages  of  his  palace  in  desperate 
grief,  now  gnawing  his  sceptre  with  his  teeth,  now  calliixg 
passionately  upon  the  name  of  his  dead  son  or  crying  out 
for  his  own  death.     It  is  stated  by  Ferrarese  historians 

1  Solerti,  op,  cit.  ii.  pp.  75,  76.    Cf.  the  Diario  Ferrarese,   col. 
V.  184.     In  BandeUo's    novella,   Bianca    d'Este  represents     Ugo   bb 

imprisoned  in  the  Torre  dei  Leoni  and  Parisina  in  the  other  tower. 

2  Fra  Paolo  da  Lignago,  Crowaca,  If.  114,  115  ;  Frizzi,  ill.  pp.  450- 
453.     Matteo    dei    Grifoni,  in  his  Chronicle  of    Bologna  v. '^^^^^^ 
that  two  of  Parisina' s  maidens  were  likewise  beheaded^^^*'^*^ 
Italicarum  Scriptores,  xviii.  col.  230).  ^ 

38  \ 


PRINCES   AND    HUMANISTS 

and  chroniclers  that,  on  the  following  day,  he  sent  a  written 
report  of  the  tragedy  to  all  the  Courts  of  Italy,  and  that  on 
the  receipt  of  the  news  the  Doge  of  Venice  put  off  a  State 
tournament  that  was  to  have  been  held  in  the  Piazza  di 
San  Marco.    No  trace  of  such  a  document  has  ever  been 
found,  either  in  the  Archives  of  Modena  or   in  those  of 
Venice  or  any  other  of  the  States  with  which  Niccold  was 
in  close  relations.^    The  Marquis  is  said,  by  one  of  those 
half-mad  perversions  of  justice  habitual  to  Italian  despots 
of  that  age,  to  have  ordered  the  execution  of  several  noble 
Ferrarese  ladies  who  were  notoriously  serving  their  hus- 
bands as  Parisina  had  served  him — "  in  order  that  his  wife 
should  not  be  the  only  one  to  suffer,"  as  Fra  Paolo  has  it. 
One,  Laodamia  de*  Romei,  the  wife  of  one  of  the  judges, 
"  who  was  known  to  him,"  appears  to  have  been  publicly 
beheaded ;  *  but,  after  her,  the  edict  went  no  further. 

After  Parisina's  death,  Niccold  had  many  bastards,  male 
and  female.  A  daughter,  Beatrice,  who  was  for  a  while 
the  Queen  of  Feasts  in  Ferrara,  was  bom  in  1427.  A 
Ferrarese  proverb  said:  "Whoso  would  see  Paradise  on 
earth,  let  him  see  Madonna  Beatrice  at  a  festa."  '  After 
her  father's  death,  she  was  married  first  to  Count  Niccold 
da  Correggio  and  afterwards  to  Tristano  Sforza.  She 
bore  to  the  Lord  of  Correggio  a  son,  also  named  Niccold, 
bom  in  1450,  whom  we  shall  meet  many  times  in  the  course 
of  this  history.     Beatrice's  mother  was  most  probably  a 

^  Solerti,  op.  di.  ii.  p.  79  '»  but  I  think  that  the  passage  from  the 
pe  Pditia  LiUeraria  (ii.  13),  to  be  quoted    presently,  proves  that 
some  such  step  was  taken  by  the  Marquis  to  justify  his  action. 
«  Fra  Paolo,  Cronaca,  ff.  115,  iiSf. 
^-    *  Cf,  Lu«o  and  Renier,  Niccold  da  Correggio,  i.  p.  208.     They 
,      '  X  however,  that  the  saying  may  possibly  refer  to  Niccol6's 
point  O^^litcr,  Beatrice  di  Ercole  d'Este. 

39 


DUKES   AND   POETS   IN  FERRARA 

Stimulated  by  Guarino^s  presence  and  his  genial-'*^ 
thusiasm,  Ferrara  became  one  of  the  most  cultured  and^ 
learned  cities  of  Italy.    The  Marquis   himself    gradr^^^^ 
acquired  a  library  which  was,  for  the  times,  a  not  iM^^^ 
siderable  one.    In  an  inventory  in  the  year  1436  ofc^l^^/ 
"  Libri  del  nostro  Signore,"  there  are  279  manuscript 


down,  which  were  stored  in  the  Torre  di  Rigobello,  ^^^ 
chief  tower  of  the  Corte  Vecchia,  where  the  House  of 
Este  kept  its  secret  Archives.^  Learned  men  and  artists 
flocked  to  Ferrara,  especially  in  Niccold's  later  years,  when 
Leonello  was  in  the  first  flower  of  his  manhood,  and  were 
always  cordially  welcomed ;  Vittore  Pisanello  painted  the 
portraits  of  his  children  and  cast  the  sovereign's  own  some- 
what grim  features  in  striking  bronze  medals ;  Michele 
Savonarola,  at  his  invitation,  came  from  Padua  to  be  his 
Court  physician  and   to   hold    a   chair    at    the    Studio. 

^  See  Adriano  CappeUi,  La  Biblioteca  Estense  nella  prima  mstd 
del  secoh  XV,  where  the  complete  inventory  is  given,  pp.  12-30. 
Nearly  200  of  these  were  naturally  Latin,  including  classical  writers, 
theologians,  and  mediaeval  authors.  There  were  58  French  MSS., 
including  a  great  number  of  romances,  to  23  Italian.  Among  these 
latter  the  minor  works  of  Boccaccio  are  particularly  abundant, 
while  there  are  only  two  Dante  codices,  catalogued  as  "  Libro  uno 
chiamado  Danti"  and  "libro  uno  chiamado  el  scripto  sovra  el 
purgatorio  de  Danti "  respectively.  There  are  two  French  trans- 
lations of  the  Bible,  a  Greek  MS.  and  a  German  MS. — both  unnamed. 
One  of  the  treasures,  which  is  still  preserved  at  Modena,  is  a  Caesar, 
Commentarii  de  Bella  Gallico,  decorated  with  miniatures  by 
Giovanni  Falconi  of  Florence  and  with  marginal  annotations  from 
the  hand  of  Guarino  himself.  That  mysterious  Greek  manuscript 
seems  to  have  disappeared,  but  was  perhaps  a  Strabo,  as  in  May, 
1470,  Sdpio  Fortuna,  one  of  the  librarians,  writing  to  Borso  in 
answer  to  his  demand  for  "  il  Strabone  in  greco,"  says  that  he  has 
no  Greek  book  in  the  Tower  and  never  had,  but  suggests  that  another 
librarian,  Biarco  di  Galaotto,  may  possibly  have  it.  (Document 
published  by  Bertoni,  op.  cit,  p.  259.)  The  famous  Torre  di 
Rigobello  fdl  in  1553. 

43 


PRINCES   AND  HUMANISTS 

*  verily  declare,"  wrote  that  acute  scholar  and  aident 

^ter  of  codices,  Giovanni  Aurispa,  who  had  precede 

^•^o  in  the  Court  of   the  Estense  as  the  frecettore  of 

«^use,  "  that  I  love  this  Marquis  of  mine  not  otherwise 

^J°^  as    a.   good  son  loves  a  sweet  and  gentle  parent." » 

°^  was    j-digion  neglected.    A  genuine  saint,  Giovanni 

^^m   da    Tossignano,  held  for  a  while  the  bishopric  in 

Succession    to  Retro  de'  Boiardi.    Bernardino  of  Siena  was 

Aeard  gl^<31y  by  the  Covirt  and  people  alike,  and  nowhere 

els^  save  in  his  own  city,  has  he  left  so  enduring  a  mark  in 

the  D«ml>er  of  the  sacred  monograms  that  we  still  see  in 

tbC  ?**"*^*^   ***  Ferrara  to-day. 

j^ftorgeiovis  and  many-coloured  episode  in  Niccold's  long 

^^^^s.  the  assembling  of  the  abortive  Council  of  Ferrara 

^  t438.      The  Holiness    of  Pope  Eugenius,  John  Paleo- 

log^'    Eniperor  of    the    East,  the   Patriarch   Joseph   of 

(^osUntinople,  with   the   Latm  cardinals  and    prelates, 

tl»*  J**^  ^clesJastics,    and  representatives  of  the  nobles 

oi     aly    gathered  together  under  the  protection  of  the 

Ijooseo    Este.  Humanists  swarmed,  and  lent  their  services 

^^^^^^^^  between   East  and  West.  Giovanni  Aurispa 

w\e  T         "*  ^^  ^^y  'Bziiher  the  office  of  papal  secretary, 

"^^o  h        ^"^**  ^^^'  mystified  the  Patriarch  of 

^i!ree     u  ^*"*^  ^^   ^*®  °*  *"  imaginary  chUd  martyr 

bl  ^     ''°*^*^°^  and  heroic  constancy  should  bring 

^LflZ^ !°  *^*  ^^'^  ^*  these  worldly  prelates  and  fathers, 
■{heedless  to  say  that  +>.  •  «  *    x^ 

V-«    T        «  ^^*  young  pnnces  were  weu  to  the 

^^Zn^  lighted    the    Pope's    Holiness  with    a 

*rTl7  !°  ''^^  choice  Latin,  while  Borso  ahready  gave 
tne  first  signs  of  t"hQ+  i 

«-nat  love  for  mamificent  display  which 
*  Letter  of  14,7   „  ^ 
Giovami  Aunspar^\^  "*  Sabbadini,  Biografia  documetUata  di 


PP-  72^74. 


43 


DUKES  AND   POETS   IN  FERRARA 

became  his  ruling  passion  in  later  life.  The  Marquis 
himself  was  present  at  a  banquet  given  by  Ugo  Benzi  of 
Siena,  ^^  who  at  that  time  was  held  the  prince  of  physicians," 
professor  of  medicine  at  the  Studio,  to  a  ntunber  of 
learned  Greeks  and  Latin  humanists.  When  the  banquet 
was  over,  the  tables  were  removed,  and  a  vigorous  discus- 
sion was  held  concerning  the  chief  points  at  issue  between 
the  rival  schools  of  the  Aristotelians  and  Platonists,  Ugo 
saying  that  he  would  defend  whichever  part  the  Greeks 
thought  fit  to  oppose.  After  several  hours  of  ardent 
disputation,  Ugo  Benzi  put  to  silence  one  after  another  of 
the  Greeks.  It  was  thus  made  manifest,  writes  Enea 
Silvio,  that  '^  the  Latins,  who  long  ago  had  overcome  the 
Greeks  in  the  arts  of  war  and  in  the  glory  of  arms,  in  our 
age  excel  them  also  in  letters  and  in  all  branches  of  learn- 
ing." ^ 

Three  years  later,  on  December  26,  1441,  Niccold  died  at 
Milan,  where  he  had  been  attempting,  as  a  generous  friend 
to  both  parties,  to  establish  peace  between  the  Duchy  and 
the  Venetians,  and  to  set  in  order  the  State  of  the  last  of 
the  Visconti,  Filippo  Maria.  In  his  will  he  named  Leonello 
as  his  successor,  and  after  Leonello's  death,  Borso,  and  only 
after  Borso  the  two  legitimate  sons,  Ercole  and  Sigismondo. 
His  body  was  brought  back  to  Ferrara,  and  buried  on 
January  i,  in  Santa  Maria  degli  Angeli ;  ^'  and  he  was  in- 
terred bare  without  any  pomp,  because  he  so  commanded 
in  his  testament."  • 

Leonello  d'Este  was  a  scholar  and  a  poet, ''  a  true  humanist 
upon  the  throne."  *    His  military  training  under  Braccio 

*  Opeta  {Eufopa,  cap.  52),  pp.  450-451 . 

*  Diatio  Ferrarese,  col.  191. 

>  A.  \eixttm,L'Arte  a  Fsrrara  nel  periodo  di  Borso  d'Este,^,  690. 

44 


PRINCES  AND    HUMANISTS 

^ontoRe  had  not  made  a  soldier  of  him,  and  he  only 

•'od  his  real  self  on  his  return  to  Ferrara,  being  now— 

*■  the   tragical  death  of  Ugo  Aldobrandino— the  recog- 

f^  .     ^®ir  to  the  sovereignty,  when  he  plunged  into  the 

"«y   advancing  waves  of  the  Classical  Revival.    To  him 

ffQ     **   **^  influence  was  due,  almost  entirely,  the  chaise 

0/  Qj***^*^^*®^  ferocity  to  at  least  the  outward  semblance 

hj.,    ****^^^  and  refinement  that  marks  the  latter  part  of 

Btf^^^*'  reign. 

^xn^^T      ^®  advent  of  Guarino  to  Ferrara,  Leonello  had 

spoDl^*^       considerable  culture  and  was  already  in   corre- 

jjj  ^"^^^^^^  witl^  li™-    It  was,  indeed,  an  event  of  no  small 

and  UK*^*"^**  "*  ^^  literary  world  that  first  drew  the  prince 

}^^      scholar  together.     In  1428  Nicholas  of  Trier,  one 

of  the   jy —       .      «    .         .    -        ^ 

a  Germ.; 

comedli 

lost. 

Orani,  _    

render  l::«^s  prize  more  precious,  stubbornly  refused  to  let 
either  X*-<«=>ggio  Bracciolini  or  Guarino  hhnself  have  a  copy 
q{  it,  iaa  spite  of  the  latter's  assurance  that,  if  his  request 
is  gta-xi-t^*i»  "while  the  Comedies  are  called  Plautine  from 
tb«9^     ^^'^^*""'  *^  *^  ^    iiamed  Ursine  from  their  re- 

,^nae»^  ^«anno  found  himself  installed  in  Ferrara  as 

^^Xo's  master,  he  appealed  to  him,  and  the  young 

^^^quis    promptiy  wrote  to    the  Cardinal,  to  request  the 

\<J^  °    f.^  ^^^^  ^^^  ^^   own  use.    His  most  reverend 

^^  aiustnous  Lordship  deemed  it  not  politic  to  refuse, 

iJf^ A^^^'^'^J^  Giordano  Orsini.  in  Pez  and  Hueber, 
^^urus  Anecootorum  Novissimus,  Tom.  vi!.  pars  iii.  p.  165. 

45 


I*^*-pal  collectors  of  tithes  in  Germany,  discovered  in 

convent  a  codex  of  Hautus,  containing  sixteen 

twelve  of  which  had  until  then  been  supposed 

le  codex  was  purchased  by  the  Cardinal  Giordano 

^ho,  under  the  impression  that  he  would  thereby 


DUKES   AND   POETS   IN   FERRARA 

and  Leonello  wrote  exultantly  to  Guarino  (^vlio  iva 
rarily  absent  from  the  dty)  to  tell  him  that  the  f 
in  his  possession.    For  the  gift  of  such  ''  immortal 
Guarino  wrote  his  pupil  a  letter  of  enthusiastic  g: 
^^  Greater  thanks  in  da}^  to  come  shall  students 
whole  order  of  lettered  men  pay  thee.  For  all  shall  kn 
by  thy  work  and  intervention,  Plautus  has   been 
from  darkness  to  light,  from  the  caverns   to   the 
from  death  to  Ufe."    Henceforth,  Leonello   and   < 
were  united  by  bonds  of  the  warmest  affection. 
the  former  was  away  from  the  city  in  his  counti 
resting  from  his  studies  and  engaged  in  hunting,  h* 
day  sent  the  humanist  presents  of  game  in  proof 
prowess,  accompanied  by  elegant  and  spirited  Latin 
"  sweeter  than  honey,"  describing  his  sport ;  the  p 
Guarino  received  with  delight,  as  marks   of   his   p 
pupil's  continual  recollection  of  him,  the  letters  he  an 
back  in  kind,  with  lavish  praise  and  genuine  admix 
For  him,  Leonello  is  his  "  King  and  Lord,"  the  " '. 
of  Princes." 

A  vivid  picture  of  Leonello  and  his  circle,  in  the 
years  of  the  reign  of  the  Marchese  Niccold,  is  given 
the  Milanese  humanist,  Angdo  Camillo  Decembrio, 
curious  and  Uttle-known  book,  De  Politia  LUteraria,^ 
he  undertook  with  the  intention  of  dedicating  it  to  Le 
himself,  and,  after  the  latter's  untimely  death,  ins< 

*  Thirteen  letters  from  Guarino  to  Leonello  (including  tl 
quoted  on  the  Plautine  comedies)  in  Fez  and  Hueber,  op.  c 
154-164.  Cf.  Rosmini,  op,  cii.  i.  pp.  62-69,  ^^nd  Voigt,  i.  pp.  56 

•  Politiae  Litter afiae  Angeli  Decembrii  Mediolanensis,   0 
Clarissimi,  ad  summum  Pontificem  Pium  II,  libri  sepiem.   I 
from  the  Augsburg  edition  of  1540.     Neither  the  British  Mi 
nor  the  Biblioteca  Angelica  possesses  a  copy  of  the  Gist  e 
printed  at  Basle  in  1527. 

46 


PRINCES  AND  HXJMANISTS 

to  Pope  Pius  II  instead,    Angdo,  who  represents  himself 
as  having  been  present  at  the  scenes  described  and  listening 
to  the  discussions  which  he  professes  to  report,  shows  us 
the  young  prince  surrounded  by  the  elect  spirits  of  the 
literary  society  of  Ferrara,  gracious  and  genial,  treating 
them  all  as  friends  and  equals  and  treated  by  them  in  the 
same  manner.    In  every  word  and  action  there  was  a  cer- 
tain studied  refinement,  revealing  a  thoroughly  harmonious 
character  attuned  to  all  that  was  seemly  and  beautiful. 
Something  of  this  was  traced  even  in  his  dress,  the  fashion 
and  colours  of  which  were  carefully  sought  out  so  as  to  bear 
some  mystical  correspondence  with  the  course  of  the  planets 
and  the  order  of  the  days  of  the  week.    The  disputations 
which  Angdo  records  are  practically  informal  lectures  by 
Leonello  or  Guarino — on  the  formation  of  a  library,  on  the 
great  dassical  writers,  espedally  the  Latins,  Virgil  above 
all,  and  on  kindred  topics.    Leonello  is  the  life  of  the  whole, 
and,  in  his  absence,  the  discourses  that  Guarino  delivers 
on  Greek  derivations  and  the  like  are  dull  in  the  extreme. 
The  other  interlocutors  merdy  put  in  a  remark  at  intervals, 
"""ow  out  an  objection,  or  by  some  timdy  question  open 
a  new  subject.    Among  the  older  men  we  see  Fdtrino 
^^lardo,  the  Lord  of  Scandiano,  whom  we  have  already 
met ;  Uguccione  de'  Contrari,  still  the  old  Marchese's  most 
trusted  adviser ;  Alberto  Costabili,  and  Giovanni  Gualengo. 
^e  younger  men  are  the  prince  Alberto  Pio  da  Carpi,  to 
more  famous  in  a  later  inheritor  of  his  name.  Carlo 
voione,  and  the  two  sons  of  Naimi  Strozzi,  Niccold  and 
^to  Vespasiano.    The  last  named,  then  a  mere  boy  (lie 
was  born  in  1422),  was  already  showing  himsdf  the  most 
P   ot  all  Guarino's  pupils ;  according  to  his  son,  he  had 
Rested,  not  merely  read,  at  the  age  of  thirteen,  all  tlxe 

47 


DUKES   AND   POETS   IN   FERRARI 

chief  Latin  and  Greek  poets ;  even  at  this  early 
Latin  l3nics  were  the  pride  and  delight  of  Leonell 
— as  they  were  destined  to  be  for  the  more  modem  a 
of  his  two  successors. 

We  see,  then,  in  Angelo's  pages  this  courtly  and  s 

group,  now  walking  together  in  the  cool  evening  to 

discussing  as  they  go,  now  sitting  under  a  great  lai 

in  the  garden,  now  meeting  in  the  Corte  Vecchia 

nello's  own  private  apartment,  which  was  decorat< 

portraits  of  the  great  heroes  of  antiquity,  now  riding 

the  stars  on  a  hot  summer's  night  *^  to  that  castle  c 

palace,  of  all  in  Italy  the  fairest,  in  popular  speech 

Behiguardo.'' ^    A  little  volume  of  Sallust  in  Lee 

hand,  or  a  picture  on  the  waU  of  a  palace  cham 

enough  to  start  a  discussion  on  Roman  history  or  I 

historians,  but  more  frequently  Virgil  or  Terence  will 

the  theme.    Nor  are  the  theologians  denied  a  ph 

Leonello's    ideal    library.    And    though    the    vem; 

writers  are  dismissed  as  '*  those  books  which  some 

on  winter  nights  we  explain  before  our  wives  and  child 

a  sonnet  of  Petrarca's  (the  well-known  Cesare  poi  cheH  i 

tar  tPEgitto)  is  thought  worthy  of  more  serious  discus: 

On  cme   occasion  the  whole  party  sets  out  by  shi| 

Venice,  in  attendance  upon  Leonello,  who  ''  in  the  he; 

of  his  youth,  conspicuous  in  his  golden  neck-chain  and  { 

worked  cloak,"  is  going  in  the  stead  of  his  father  to  am 

a  peace  between  the  Most  Serene  Republic  and  I 

Filippo  Maria  of  Milan.  Arrived  at  the  City  of  the  Lago 

^  This  palace  of  Belriguardo  wad  aboat  seven  kilometers  i 
Ferrara,  near  Voghera ;  the  other,  Belfiore,  was  then  outside  the  w 
near  the  place  where  the  Certosa  still  stands.  Not  a  trace  of  ei 
of  these  buildings  remains  to-day. 

>  De  PoHHa  Utteraria,  i.  6,  ii.  15. 

48 


:•  .  N.  .- 


V  -  :  :  .  :3 


.:    .-    V   .^. 


^■1: 


.  •  .  .      i:-    :•.  ...  .■  I  M:«^  '-.  ^\'  u    -  J   v 
■    L,  '■      '.  ail.  /        :     h    ' { !*y  /-«   »    >    :  *••   ':is 


^ '  •  •  ■  '^'  '■       "•      i.H  V.I      '  •  .:  i'  ,!  ^    •  -ij 
'  ''"■  .  '"■'  'ii  'f,  {.'if-  ,'    *.' ■'    «»   .:,      .  '  .'  ■■ 

a.  re-   "':  '  ;r     ,  j^l    r  -.-"    ^     .\  ,!■,  .      m    : i  .. 

.  5     •  \)"  '    L'   il      !•-    '\'  .r.T      j       J  .,  .,  .^     ^■.  .    f;  ^;.    .. 


i'L 


■*'    '       -TK        \   ■  !\.  '      I     ..1,1 


\'-.  ..'J 


\. 


PRINCES  AND    HUMANISTS 

y^^etfo  discourses  upon  Homer  and  Virgfl  with  the  young 

^     etfan  patricians  who  have  come  to  meet  him,  \mtil  it 

ql  ^®    to   enter  "  the  sublime  palace  of  your  Senate."  * 

Of  „^°*l»er  occasion,  after  hearing  Mass  on  the  feast  day 

^Jobxa.  the  Baptist  at  Ferrara,  Leonello  and  his  following 

jijj^  ^    tfae  invitation  of  Giovanni  Gualengo  to  taste  the  first 

li5^®     o<  his  garden,  after  -which  they  go  up  into  his 

flow    '    "'yiwch  he  has  all  decorated  with  white  and  purple 

'^^    **   diffusing   grace    and   love  with  wondrous  fra- 

dBcii*^-'   '**-^®®<*'  *  strangely  dramatic  note  is  struck  in  their 

y,       *^*=^  -     Leonello,  with  (to  our  modem  notions)  a  curious 

"    ®«»:»^bility,  defends  the  famous  passage  in  the  second 

**^»-«-4«w»i  where  Aeneas  threatens  the  life  of  Helen, 

•"y  the  e^^L^unple  of  the  vengeance  his  own  father  had  taken 

upon  biis       -fcrother  and  stepmother,  but  a  few  years  before. 

"You  ba^-^^e  seen,"  Angeb  represents  him  as  saying,  "my 

own  fat3:».^=r,  a  more  recent  and  familiar  example  in  this 

matter     («=r«nceming  whom  I  si>eak  not  because  he  is  my 

father,    l:>-«:»t  as  fame  bears  testimony),  among  the  Italian 

polices     "fc^^r  far  the  most  famous  for  his  observances  of 

jj,jjijaiM.-t:5?^»  justice,  and  piety,  ^^en  he  saw  what  he  would 

^  l*aL-vc»    '^ot  seen,  put  to  death  his  wife,  together  with  his 

goft,  ^^^^      stepmother  with  the  stepson.    Was  my  father 

gjv  coia<a«nned  on  account  of  this  sort  of  vengeance,  after 

♦H6  a*^*^*'^^*'*^  ^  ™a<Je  public  ?    By  no  means,  but  by 

\.e  6«**®'^  ''P""®^  of  all  the   fault  remained  upon  the 

p,  PoUda  UtUrana.  i.  1 1 . 

,  jbia.  a.  21. 

*  ^'P^i^"^'  "•  '3-  Very  differetrt  w»  the  judgment 
oi  *^S^  "  S^*^*  ^^  **  «i«iicated.  "  He  was  held."  ^t« 
^pe»s"    ,    "wth  by  others  and  himseli  to  have  been  cruel  to  his 

49 


\i 


DUKES   AND   POETS   IN   FERRARA 

Although  united  by  ties  of  tenderest  afiection  ±0 
brother  Borso,  whose  prompt  action  had  secured  tli< 
of  Modena  and  Reggio  at  the  outset  of  his  reig^,   £ 
practically   shared    the    government    of    tlie       'E 
dominions  with  him,  Leonello  foimd  a  more    S371X1; 
companion  in  his  special  tastes  and  pursuits  iti   ±lLi 
of  his  elder  half-brother,  the  bastard  Meliaduse,   wt 
the  death  of  Ugo  Aldobrandino,  had  been  forced    i 
the  Church  by  their  father  (a  fate  he  had  tried  ta  s 
flight),  but  who  seems  to  have  shown  no  signs  of  e 
wards  his  more  favoured  juniors.    Meliaduse  shan 
nello*s  friendship  with  humanists  and  artists,  with  . 
and  Guarino,  Leon  Battista  Alberti  and  Pisanell 
there  are  several  letters  extant,  written  in  Latin  fro 
nello  in  Ferrara  to  Meliaduse  in  Rome  during  their 
lifetime,  which  give  a  pleasant  idea  of  the  characil^<^^  \  \    ^ 

mutual  relations  of  these  two  young  princely  1  ^^ ,      -"^^- 

These  Latin  epistles,  which  Leonello  addressed  to  f"^         J^  ^  '^:^ 
distinguished  humanists  of  Italy,  do  not  strike  U£-..^]^^I^rH|i    ^/ 
as  anything  very  remarkable ;  but  they  were  greatly  ^"^"^^^^'^^  ;||i^  ^1^ 
by  his  contemporaries.    Guarino,  in  the  funeral    t^'  ■-— -^^' w^- y^-y 
that  he  pronounced  over  his  noble  pupil's  bier,  cii^  "^^HT^^I' '>^t^i 
as  extant  monuments  of  his  sifpereminent  erudition    — - — ^  "^k  .*^  !^  \  ' 
in  such  faultless  and  choice  Latin  "  that  he  ap^^^^^igr  as 
very  near  to  the  diction  of  the  ancients,"  aiidEn»^«r:^==^"^*'^^'^^ 
Piccolomini,  going  a  little  further,  declared  that  tt^_» 


son  and  unjust  to  his  wife,  from  whom  he  wished  to  exact 
he  gave.     But  this  was  the  reward  of  his  promiscuous  h 
he  kept  faith  to  his  wife,  nor  his  wife  to  him.    The  weak( 
penalty  ;  the  potent  sinner,  whom  the  world  dared  not  \\ 
reserved  for  the  judgment  of  God."     (Historia  Fridrnc-^, 
tons,  p.  950 

^  See  R.  Sabbadini,  Biografia  docutnentata  di  Gmannin^^--^^^ 
pp.  58-61,  and  Mancini,  Vita  di  Leon  Battista  Alberti. 

50 


I'RINCES   AND  HUMANISTS 

^quaj    to     -the    letters  of  Cicero.*     Leonello  was   a  most 
^^^exit  collecr-tor  of  codices  of  the  classical  authors  as  well 
^^   of  the  eax-ly  Fathers,  and  is  said  to  have  been  the  first 
to    demons  f:x-at:e    the  apocryphal  character  of  the  supposed 
correspondcjxioe     between  St.  Paul  and  Seneca.*    He  was 
em-ulous,  his    I^ranciscan  admirer  Fra  Giovanni  da  Ferrara 
tells  us,  of  -iztx^    ^ame  and  glory  of  those  ancient  heroes  who 
shoxie  alike   l>3^    ^*he  splendour  of  letters  and  of  great  deeds.* 
He  is  reported    -fco  have  composed  a  Latin  commentary  upon 
his   o^wn  ac-f:ic:>x:i^s— a  species  of    autobiography  of  which  no 
fragrrients  atir^     :mnow  extant.     His  one  great  hero  was  Julius 
CaesaJT  himself,  to  whose  name  and  honour  he  dedicated 
a  sp^^^  ToormrmrM,    in  the  palace.      At  his  instigation  Guarino 
translated  -tliB.^-     Commentarii  da  BeUo  GaUico,  and  dedicated 
to   bi*^  ^  tr^^trise  against  Poggio,  who  had  exalted  Scipio 
over-     Caesar        among  the  captains  of  antiquity.    On  the 
occasion  of  Xl^^onello's  marriage  with  Margherita  Gonzaga, 
pis^eUo  Pr^s^i^^ed  y^  ^^j^   ^  portrait  of  his  hero,  Divi 
Jul^^     /^^^^^     ^iffigies  (whether  picture  or  medal  does  not 
apP^^^^^^       "*-^^oneUo  was  so  deUghted  with  the  gift  that  he 
^^"^tie  <iiplo   "^^^  ^^"^^  *^  ^^  man  who  brought  it.* 

''^    e   his  cT^^^^    which  the  Marquis  issued  in  1450,  shortly 
l>efor  '^^^i'^xx    death,  in  favour  of  Michele  Savonarola— 

m^er^^  P*  ^^^C^     ^*^*  *'  ^*  ^^^  *  ^ene<u  Sylvii  Pit  Pont  Epist,  105 

Sl^ll^S^oggio^,^-!- For  more  extravagant  praise,  see  the  passages 

^?^essed  to  1^^  ^^Uelf  o  quoted  by  Voigt,  i.  p.  560.  See  also  the  poem 
fTfi^GclV^  ^^irx^"^^^  ^  ^^^  NeapoUtan  humanist,  PorceUio,  beginning, 

^irLs^^^  ^o^*^^^'  Prmceps  LeoneUe,  mearum  Munera  "  (Carmina 

^^^  CJi'  ^«  f^o^^*'^*^  Italorum,  vii.  p.  515). 

3  -fobaim^^    >*-» a  LiWerana,  i.  10. 

4  SeeVa;s^;^r=^  ^rrariensis,  i4nna/es,  col.  453. 
^^^  Otiaiuxc^^*     ^^^^  ^^  Pi^^^^^<>>  ed.  Venturi,  pp.  38,  39.     A  letter 

f^^^^j   IS  VTx   -t^^^  Leonello,  encouraging  him  to  defend  the  glories  of 
*  -*=^^2  and  HueY)er,  op.  cit.  pp.  156-158. 

51 


DUKES   AND   POETS   IN   FERRARi 

Leonello  delighted  in  music  and  in  the  servio 
Church.    In  his  palace  he  built  a  beautiful  chapel, 
ously  furnished  and  decorated,  and  had  a  special 
singers  brought  from  France  to  serve  it.^      Alt! 
reared  few  new  buildings  in  Ferrara,  he  was  an  a 
discriminating  judge  of  the  plastic  arts.     The   Sj 
Santa  Anna  (founded  originally  by  the  good  bishop,  ^ 
da  Tossignano,  who  died  in  1446),  and  the  Palaz^ 
in  the  Borgo  Nuovo  (now  much  modified  as  the  S 
Arcivescovile  and  famous  for  Garofolo*s  frescoes). 
only  buildings  of  importance  that  he  erected. 
his  precious  manuscripts,  as  well  as  his  art  coUec 
Belfiore — one  of  those  famous  ddizie  or  pleasure-p>; 
which  the  House  of  Este  excelled,  and  which,    ^ 
solitary  exception  of  Schifanoia,  have  all    disapj 
which  had  been  left  to  him  imfinished  and  ^vhich 
pleted.    Before  and  after  his  accession,  his  favourite 
was  Vittore  Pisanello.  "  Pisano,  the  most  excellent  c 
painters  of  this  age,  when  he  came  from  Rome  to 
promised  me  of  his  own  accord  a  certain  picture 
by  his  own  hand,  in  which  was  the  image  of  the 
Virgin  " — thus  he  writes  to  Meliaduse  in  1432,  nil 
before  his  accession.    "  I  marvellously  long  to  5 
picture,  not  only  because  of  the  excellent  geniu5 
painter,  but  also  because  of  my  special  devotion 
Virgin."  *    The  picture  is  now  in  the  National  Gs 
London.    PisaneUo    cast   many    medals   with  h      a^ 
features,  and  painted  his  portrait  at  least  twice,  a  /    =^ 

*  Johannes  Ferrariensis,  col.  456.  Cf .  Ugo  Caleffini  in  th(  gge=a 
Chronicle  (pp.  288,  289) :  "  Quanto  li  piaceva  li  vespri  ^^ 
messe! " 

'  See  the  letter  in  Sabbadini,  op,  ciL  pp.  58-60. 

54 


l| 


I^MNCES   AND  HUMANISTS 

escsunpie  b&x^S  ^  ^^  ^^^^  coUection  at  Bergamo.^    Flavio 
Bioxido  could     congratulate  the  Marquis  in  1446  that  his 
coizi3^e  was    iraodelled  upon  the  style  of  that  of  the  Roman 
Emj>erore.*         WT:ien   Ciriaco  of    Ancona,    the   great   anti- 
qusurian  hsLV^Uesx:  of  that  age,  visited  him  in  the  summer  of 
X44.9,    I^neUo     showed  him  with  special  pride  among  his 
piclnires  one     l>y^  Roger  Van  der  Weyden  ("Rugerius  Bra- 
giensis  '')  rei>res«nting  our  first  Parents  and  the  Deposition 
from     the  Cxx>ss^  which  seemed  to  the  humanist  "  painted 
by  divine  ra.-tfci.^:r  than  by  human  art,"  and  in  the  palace  of 
Belfiore  a  i>si.im:B.-ting  of  the  Miises,  by  Angelo  da  Siena, 
SLdom^^l  with.    SI.    Xatin  epigram  apparently  by  Guarino.' 

Xbc5  friendsIzMjLx^  between  Leon  Battista  Alberti  and  Leonello 
g^^j^^3  to  ha.-v-^  Ibegvai  in  1436,  when  Alberti  dedicated  his 
conx^^y  ^^^o^^^^Ho  {Fahtda  Philoioxeos)  to  him,  as  the 
brotto^^  ^*  hi^     ^vexy  dear  friend,  Meliaduse.*    The  occasion 

1  ^^J?^al^^^*^**"^  Niccold's  deatb  Jacopo  BeUini  and  Pisanfillo 
psJxMf^^^^  the^^^  •-*^Mts  of  Leonello,  ajxd  the  old  Marquis  gave  the  pre- 
f  creri<^^  -  Vassi^^?^^^^**^  ^®^  *^®  sonnet  by  the  poet  Ulisse,  in  Venturi's 
'^^^^^^^^^/inng^^t^  T^»<a  d«/ Pisatte//o,  p.  46).  In  the  Louvre  there 
is  a-  ^^^a,  yoiiiw».  "^^^Tso  by  Pisanello  and  also  a  highly  finished  por- 
trait ^^  but^!^»/^-^y  ^^o™  Gniyer  (ii.  p.  29)  took  for  Margherita 
^^^^^^s^B  as  oxx^^*^  Venturi  (toe.  «/.  p.  69)  is  probably  right  in  re- 
<^*'^^^5^^ogical  ^^^^^  ^^^  the  Estensian  princesses,  LeoneUo's  half-sisters. 
^***j^^  Who  in  ^  ^=^^derations  make  it  probable  that  she  is  either 
^^^  ^  S-tefano  [^^[T*^**  married  the  Count  Oddantonio  of  Urbino  and  in 
J^^^ggio  in  x^^.^,^^^pani,  or  Beatrice,  who  married  Niccold  da 

^  Coluccil/^^lS:^*"^^^*^'  ^^\^^  Ciriaco  Anconitano,  pp.  I43-I45, 
i^  ^^^  Van  a^^  -^elle  AnHchitd]  Picene,  Tom.  xv.  (Fermo,  1792). 
^^^.^^^ed^tkx  ^^  >?Veyden's  painting  has  been,  rather  questionably, 
^  ^3<^tJ^^-^tx<^^   X^icturenowmtheUflizi.    Angelo  da  Siena  worked 

^^^  .-ST^  :F«^^ar^^_^  »^d  Borso,  but  no  Sienese  influences  can  be  traced 

^^       Vjjod.      ^^*^   di  Lean  Ban.  AlberH,  ed.  A.  Bonucci,  vol,  i.  pp. 

55 


DUKES  AND   POETS   IN   FERRARA 

of  the  Council  of  Ferrara  brought  the  architect 
prince  together,  and  cemented  their  friendship, 
returned  to  Ferrara  in  1442,  and  was  most  cordially 
by  the  Marquis.  "  When  I  came  to  visit  thee,"  h 
**  the  readiness  and  kindness  of  my  reception  at  ti 
showed  clearly  that  Battista  Alberti  was  right  well 
to  thee/'^  Alberti  hesitated  at  first  about  sen 
works  in  the  vernacular,  written  ^^  in  such  wis4 
might  be  understood  by  my  not  very  learned  fellow-< 
to  Leonello.  ''  I  feared  that  they  had  not  as  mucl 
as  was  needed  to  be  read  by  a  prince  of  such  lea 
thyself."  But  the  Marquis  reassured  him,  and  the 
tine  was  delighted  to  have  such  eminent  suppor 
appeal  to  the  vernacular.  ''  Right  glad  was  I,  not 
do  a  thing  to  please  thee,  but  also  to  find  that  thou 
most  erudite,  did  not  find  fault  with  me  for  that  fc 
many  blame  me,  who  say  that  I  have  offended  the 
of  literature  in  not  writing  so  eloquent  a  matter 
Latin  language."' 

Here  we  see  Leonello  a  worthy  precursor  of  Lore 
Medici ;  but  M.  Gustave  Grayer  notes  that  it  was  so: 
unfortunate  for  Ferrara  that,  less  wise  in  this  respe 
his  Mantuan  brother-in-law,  he  encouraged  Alber 
man  of  letters  rather  than  as  architect.  Leonello  i 
utmost  delight  in  all  that  he  wrote,  whether  in  Lai 
Italian,  and  kept  urging  him  to  do  more.  It  wa 
instigation  that  Alberti's  chief  literary  work,  tb 
*•  Books  on  Architecture,"  De  Re  Aedificatoria,  was  \ 
as  Alberti  himself  tells  Meliaduse  in  his  Ludi  Mate 

^  Dedication  of  the  T&og$nio,  ibid.  vol.  iii.  p*  159. 
s  Ibid,  p.  160. 

'  Ibid.  vol.  iv.  p.  424.  For  the  relations  of  Alberti  with  I 
cf.  especially  Mancini,  Vita  di  L.  B.  Alberti,  pp.  188-197. 

56 


S'^INCES  AND  HUMANISTS 

In  X44^  1,^  -sfVSLS  invited  to  decide  upon  the  merits  of  two 
xi'val  models  ^o^  ***«  equestrian  statue  of  Niccold  III,  to 
be  erected  ir»  £x-oat  of  the  Corte  Vecchia,  the  present  Palazzo 
del  Jtfunidpxo  O^^  pedestal,  alas,  alone  remains  to-day). 
This  sugges^^sd  ^o  him  his  corioiis  little  treatise  in  Latin, 
De  Eqtto  A-9S*-9»*^'>f^i  dedicated  **  to  Leonello,  Prince  of 
Ferrara.,  and      ci^slight  of  the  human  race." 

««  "Wlico  I  c^uBxa.^  to  Ferrara,"  he  says, "  for  the  sake  of  seeing 
and  saluting  tti.^5*,  most  illustrioias  Prince,  it  is  not  easy  to 
teU  ttie  grea.-t  cielight  that  detained  me  there,  seeing  thy 
most:  Iseautiful  <ri-ty,  thy  right  modest  citizens  and  so  accom- 
plished, and  lc"iTK<31y  a  Prince  as  thyself.  Verily,  I  under- 
stood Icxfyvi  iaip»<r»artant  it  is  to  spend  life  in  a  republic  in  which 
one  d^oey^^  i»i  l«sisure  and  tranqxiilUty  of  soul,  an  excellent 
father  of  his  c=ountiy  and  one  most  observant  of  the  laws 
and  customs.  It  added  to  this  pleasure  that  there  I  met 

with  a.  most  plcsa^^^^  gjjjj  excellent  occasion  to  exercise  my 

iuteU^*^  Tbot^^^  ^°°*  *°  ****  •  '^^^**'  i»<*eed,  I  took  most 
gladly'  ***^^  ^^*^  oxar  sakes.  For  since  thy  citizens  had  de- 
*''*®**  ♦rian  sta?  ***  the  Forum,  with  magnificent  outlay,  an 
^'^^^  ding  to  J''*^  °*  **'^  ^**^'  ^^  exceUent  artists  were 
cont^  not  a  U^"**^^'  ""  *^®  matter,  they  chose  me,  who  take 
**™  Wher-e^"*^*  "  painting  and  modeUing.  as  arbiter  and 

^^^L  made  ^'^^^  as  I  again  and  again  looked  upon  those 
^^""T'to  coti^A"*^  admirable  workmanship,  it  came  into  my 
*^*^  ♦he  out^^*^^^  "°'*  diUgently,  not  merely  the  beauty 
^^      \^  and  WL^  appearance  of  horses,  but  also  their  entire 

5!^a  v»hi<iir^'^*''^  ^*  "^^  ^  for  the  Studio  of 
^exr^  oith^  during  the  latter  part  of  his  father's  reign, 
io.sP"»-  _^^«sence  of  Guarino,  had  lost  ground  consider- 

*«*>*Mto«  AlbMrH,  Optra  inedita,  etc.,  pp.  338-239 
57  » 


DUKES   AND   POETS   IN   FERRAR 

aUy.    In  this  his  object  was  not  merely  '*  to  pul 
the  clouds  of  ignorance  and  to  infuse  the  light  oi 
into  the  minds  of  his  citizens/'  as  the  Franciscan 
vanni  has  it,  but  also  to  promote  the  material  weU 
the  city  by  preventing  promising  young  men  fron 
ing    elsewhere,  and  by  attracting  wealthy  and 
foreigners  from  other  States.    At  the  instance  of  tl 
board  of  magistrates  who  were  appointed  to  pres 
the  affairs  of  the  Studio,  and  aided  by  the  ca 
Guarino,  he  thoroughly  reformed  it  in  the  years 
1443.    All  incompetent  teachers  were  banished 
city,  and  the  Marquis  sent  to  every  part  of  Italy 
tinguished  professors  and  lecturers  in  all  branches 
ledge,  whom  he  rewarded    with  generous  stipei 
welcomed,  as  a  contemporary  put  it,  "  with  a  mc 
countenance  and  with  sweetest  words."    "  With  th 
zeal,"  writes  Fra  Giovanni,  "  he  set  himself  to  br: 
renowned  and  learned  men  in  both  branches  of 
illustrious  physicians  and  grave  philosophers  (of 
was  one),  eminent  theologians  likewise,  poets,  dialc 
orators  skilled  both  in  Latin  and  Greek  eloquence 
means  of  Aurispa  a  genuine  Greek,  Theodore  Gaza, 
Ferrara  in  1444,  to  profess  the  language  of  Hoi 
Sophocles.    "  Touching  that  Greek,"  wrote  Carlo 
pini  to  Aurispa,  "  who  by  thy  doing  has  been  su: 
to  Italy,  and  especially  to  Ferrara,  to  educate  yoi 
who  have  any  dealings  with  the  Muses  and  all  w 
thought  for  the  glory  of  the  Italians  should  be  im 
beholden  to  thee.    In  this  matter  all  will  easily 

*  Johannes  Ferrariensis,  col.  457  ;  Borsetti,  L  pp.  47-5^^ 
i.  pp.  563,  564  ;  Gruyer,  i.  p.  39.  It  should  be  observed  tl 
stipends  were  paid  by  the  Commune  during  Leonello's  rei 

58 


miNCES  AND  HUMANISTS, 
Jiow^gj^jjy.  tlae  higher  culture  is  indebted  to  the  illustrious 
i>nzxce  leoi^e^o-"*    It  appears  questionable  whether  Gaxa 
^^^*«allyhel^  a  ^*^  at  Ferrara,  but  he  was  Rector  of  the 
trttiveraV>=>*  .Arts  for  the  scholastic  year  I44&-I449-*  '^^ 
men,  witi  otJ^^^^rs,  the  leaders  of  the  Uterary  and  philosophic 
society  of  Is'^nraJa  itself,  met  at  the  table  or  in  the  gardens 
of   the  Marqixxs,  who  held  a  kind  of  informal  Academy  in 
the  palace  of   I^^lfiore,  a  development  and  extension  of  those 
early     literacy        gatherings  and    disputations  recorded  by 
Ang^elo  Dece«m:l:^rio.    Of  these  too  we  have  a  picture,  some- 
^ItSL-t  idealize^d    stnd  tinged  witb  a  monkish  colouring,  in  the 
Afpf^^^^  ^^    -ti:M.si.t  worthy  friar   who  wrote  himself  down  a 
«  grstv«  philo^fcc^pher,"  Fra  Giovanni- 

XrcE«>  it  m.^«ist  be  admitted  that  most  of  these  men  who 
thias  gathexi&<a.  round  Leonello's  throne  were  mediocrities, 
tha-t  there^  ^w-^ls  more  pedantry  than  genuine  scholarship, 
miic-l*  wntin^r^     ^j  La^  ^^^^^^    ^^^  ^^^  j.^^^  ^^  poetry. 

GuaJriao  and  -A^ixrispa  are,  perhaps,  the  only  two  that  have 
left  ^^^^^^  ^«^^rk  in  the  world  of  letters,  though  many, 
and  ^  fdj  '^'^eodore  Gaza»  were  instrumental  in  the 
spread^  ^  ^^^r-^  in  Italy.  Xito  Vespasiano  Strozzi  stands 
^^^^4ef  wo^^  ^^^  genuine  poet  of  Leonello's  circle,  and 
"^JTrrn^t^    >^longs  to  a  later  epoch. 

\ffraXicesco  ^»  however,  pass  over  m  silence  the  name 

^*  rLo^e  of    ^^.^^^  Princivalle  Ariosti,  called  "Peregrinus," 
^        ^badini  ^^'^^^  ^^^"^^^  *^   the  student  of  his  times.' 
9    Qeg^'^f**^**  ^^^^  <»7.  p.  96. 

.— .«£i   tliat  Ux^    ^^cA«te   Saoanarola,  pp.  22,  67.    It  wiU'  be  remem-       ^  / 
^^MUB     tlic**XJ:^^     Studio     corresponded  to  our  modem  University,       V 
^*^^^^int^^^;V^er8ities"  were  the  associations  of  teachers  and 
^*^**     ^Uis   ^T^"^  ^^^jfferent  iacnlties. 

_JL«ccS^  ^<a  :^^^^  ^T^^  ^  ^  ^  confused  with  another 
:F<^^^^^e  Btc:o\^^'^^^**^  Anosti,  the  poet's  nnde,  who  was  semscaUo 

59 


DUKES   AND   POETS   IN   FERRAR 

Francesco,  then  a  very  young  man»  composed  s 
little  dramatic  idyl,  the  Iside,  consisting  of  two  Lat 
put  into  the  mouths  of  the  girl  Iside  and  one  of  her  r 
lovers.  Iside  has  been  converted  from  a  munc 
by  the  words  of  a  sacred  preacher,  divinus  orator,  t 
herself  henceforth  to  penitence  and  austerity, 
taught  me  to  cover  up  my  vain  hair  with  veils,  of 
vn31  to  put  off  the  paint  from  my  cheeks.  Jei 
gems  adorned  my  brow  ;  for  jewels  and  gems  the  H< 
is  given  me."  The  representation  was  givei 
Leonello  and  his  Court,  the  nobles  of  Ferrara  anc 
gathering  of  people,  and  it  may,  perhaps,  b< 
to  speak  highly  for  the  moral  tone  of  the  Marches 
that  this  curious  little  play  appears  to  have  been  a 
But  the  greater  part  of  Francesco  Ariosti's  work 
that  of  Tito  Vespasiano  Strozzi,  in  the  reign  of  L 
successors.  A  man  of  considerable  scientific  att£ 
and  singularly  wide,  if  not  particularly  deep  kn 
he  was  one  of  the  principal  personages  of  the  Coui 
scientific  treatises,  devout  brochures,  Latin  poe 
vivid  descriptions  of  contemporary  events,  and  evei 
high  among  the  diplomatic  agents  of  his  sovereig: 
In  foreign  affairs  Leonello  continued  the  polic 
father.  He  successfully  kept  clear  of  the  political 
and  interminable  wars  of  Italy,  and  throughout  1 
reign  the  peace  of  Ferrara  was  not  disturbed, 
and  Latinist  of  Hungary,  John  of  Csenicze  (bette: 
as  Janus  Pannonius),  came,  a  mere  boy,  some  t 

^  Bertoni,  op,  cit,  p.  178,  note.    He  adds  that  the  autho 
representation   "fabulam    veridicam."      Some  elegant 
had,  perhaps,  been  converted  in  Ferrara  by  a  popular  Len 
of  repentance. 

60 


PRINCES  AND   HUMANISTS 

*^^i^een  years  old,  in  the  latter  part  of  Leondlo's  reign  to 
sit  at  the  f «e*  of  Guarino,  and  in  his  chief  poem,  addressed 
to  tkis  mas^^r-,  the  pacific  city  appears  in  a  golden  haze  of 
ideal  prosj>«r-it:y  :— 

I*acMJ3    ^rt    aJigeri  Ferraria  mater  Amoris, 

Qua.    i=*.eKi*»s  in  geminos  iteruxn  se  dividit  amnes, 

X-uget;     ^^t     sunbustum  fratrem  pia  silva  sororum> 

From  his  lofty  watch-tower  m  the  sky,  Plato  looks 
do^vvn  iipon  -tii.^  realization  of  Ids  ideal,  a  wise  State  ruled 
by  3.  philosojg>lier  King.  Under  Leonello's  pacific  and 
oHiglxteaeA  ^^way,  to  this  one  city  has  the  golden  age 
TotJXMmed : 

.An  non     ^p^turni  sunt  illic  secula  patris, 
^B®^  Til:»i.     xiulla  fremunt,  nisi  qoae  descripta  l^untur  ? 
^^P^     'y*'*^'  laetas  populo  i>laTidente  choreas, 
Intiw  ±cs^t:^  sonant,  et  picta,  palatia  surgunt, 
Arvajtc«™    g^^^ 

^       -**««-^=a     atnbo,  plebs  praeside,  plebe  tyrannus.  » 

^"^^  .  ^^*  the  poet  continues  by  a  pardonable  and 
pio^^^f^  ^^*  ^^  the  work  of  Guarino,  whose  mfluence  had 
caris^^  an^^^^^  ^^  ^  chosen  prince  instead  of  his  warlike 
*>^^*^^^^^  '?^^^  induced  him  to  rule  in  accordance  with 
bis  precept  ^^^^-e :- 

-  *o  tri?«ri»  stre^^^^^^ther  of  Peace  and  ^vinged  Love,  where  the  Po 
*^^1,  for  their^r^  divides  itself  again^  and  the  loving  wood  of  sisters 
^^Acy^^  T>x^^^~^  ^^^/'  <:^ani  Pannami,  SUva  Panegyrica, 
^^  ^o^J'^^^n.  l:^^^^^^^_*^?  faWeof  Phaethon  falling  into 


„^^^_  a  to  Po^V^  wmgs  were  scorclied  in  the  sun,  his  sisters  being 
f  rnTi^  :«nad^  >:>^^i?®'  *^^  .*®^  converted  into  amber.  Fine  use  of 
«^  ..  Are  nc»t:^,^5^tfducci  m  his  Alia  Cittd  di  Farrara. 

,_ -j^a  »^^  ^>^^^^!^  ^^^^  ^^  ^*^®^  Saturn  there,  where  no  wars  re- 

^^^^1  tx^^sic,  t^^  ^^^^  *^  ^®*^  ^^  ^  ^w>k8  ?  where  within  is  ever 

*      ^^^ce3  tia^>  ^w!^    crowds  applauding  the  bUthe  dances,  and  painted 

^^^ZT   ^^*^vC»^   ^tl^o^^P^atyonnches  the  fields  with  her  loaded 

^^^^^^^  -goo^^  .f^^  both,  the  people  m  its  guardian,  the  sovereign 

61 


DUKES  AND   POETS   IN   PERRARA 

Ambobus  aed  ta  tantoram  cauBa  bonoram  I 
Per  te,  Mais  alias  lituis  dum  perstrepit  oras^ 
Sola  vacat  citharis  Ferraria^  sola  triumphat^ 
Principibus  foecunda  piis^  foecunda  disertis 
Civibus,  et  pariter  cunctis  habitata  Camenls.  ^ 

Unlike  any  other  sovereign  of  his  House,  he 
troubled  by  rival  pretenders  at  home.  '  The  Mai 
Ricciarda  had  retired  to  Saluzzo  shortly  after  his  a< 
and  in  1445  Leonello  and  Borso  sent  her  two  sons 
and  Sigismondo,  to  the  Court  of  Alfonso  of  Naple 
brought  up  with  Prince  Ferrante  at  a  safe  distan 
Ferrara.  Leonello's  first  wife»  Margherita  Gon^ 
whom  he  had  been  married  in  1435,  was  a  meet  coi 
for  her  husband,  a  learned  princess  trained  in  the  1 
school  of  Vittorino  da  Feltre ;  she  died  before  his  ac 
leaving  him  one  son,  Niccold,  who  was  bom  in  14 
1444,  Leonello  took  another  wife,  Maria  d'Aragona, 
daughter  to  the  King  of  Naples ;  Borso  and  M 
brought  her  in  triumph  to  Ferrara  at  the  beginning 
She  died  childless  in  December,  1449. 

This  Aragonese  alliance  produced  a  remarka 
vek>pment  of  the  Estensian  diplomacy.  Bor 
carefully  studied  the  condition  of  the  Kingdom  un 
newly  established  Aragonese  dynasty,  and  devised  a 
for  the  general  pacification  of  Italy  under  one  hes 
October  he  returned  to  Naples,  invited  by  the  Ki 
stayed  there  until  the  end  of  April,  1445.  In  the 
of  Leonello  and  himself,  speaking  throughout  fo 

^  "But  to  both  art  thou  the  cause  of  so  great  good 
Through  thee,  while  Mars  makes  other  regions  ring  with  t 
Ferrara  alone  is  free  for  lutes,  triumphs  alone,  fruitful  in  1 
princes,  fruitful  in  eloquent  citizens,  and  at  once  the  dwell! 
of  all  the  Muses"  (Md.  431,  438-441).  See  the  whole 
addressed  to  Guarino,  lines  401-441. 

63 


J^RINCES  AND  HUMANISTS 

^or<l  my  jt>tr<ytMieT  and  mjself,"    he  warned   Alionso  that 
be  ^ivas  bitrt^^iy  hated  by  his  new  subjects,  urged  him  to 
S^^io.   their    Xo've,  to  arrange  his  expenses  and  husband  his 
resources,    -to    iziake  peace  with  all  the  Italian  potentates, 
and  espedaJly  to  gain  over  the  Pope,  Eugenius  IV.    Borso 
had  visited    -tlx^    latter  at  Rome  on  his  way,  and  had  found 
him  in  a  conciliatory  disposition  towards  the  King.     Duke 
Filippo  MsurlsL      of   Milan  is  slowly  dying;  the  House  of 
the  Viscoati   in  H-ombardy  is  "  halted  like  the  Devil " ;  Fran- 
cesco Sforza    ^uirB.<3  the  Venetians  are  preparing  to  seize  upon 
his   heritage.  aLet  his  Majesty  prepare  to  make  himself 

master  of  Lonottardy  on  the  Duke's  death.  "By  means 
of  tbe  House  of  Este,"  said  Borso,  "which  is  loved  in 
Ix>nxl>aTdy  LLlcr.es  €od,  your  Majesty  will  most  easily  enter 
into  tlais  f ta.t«  and  lordship  of  the  Duke ;  you  will  obtain 
**  ^^**  iST  "^^^  pacifically  and  with  the  greatest  pleasure. 
^^^  Ti«.  b^T^^  ^^^®  ^^'  y*^'*^  Majesty  can  say  that  you 
*^^^  bt  at  aS^  **^  °*  ^^y'  *^'  it  is  that.  And  there  is 
''^Ji^^jiins  ^»L**^**  ^*""  Majesty  wiU  be  Kingof  Italy."* 
h  a  do«Su^^^  *P*'  ^*^  ^**^  returned  to  Ferrara 
'^*««rs  inAlf***^"*  empowering  LeoneUo  to  arrange 
^  FmpPoM:^^**^^'^  °^«  ^th  the  dying  Duke.  Nor 
r  Tacopo  d^J^^  «^^**  ^y  reluctance  to  the  royal  design ; 
iirn  fra»»*^^  :t?"-  ^**"*'  Bishop  of  Modena,  who  came  to 
■  tbc  spring  "^5^6'*^**  *°  L'^igi  Mainero,  Leonello»s  agent, 
"i  «,«jJKionia|».  *  ^447.  he  professed  himself  most  desirous 
^^T^d  l^  ^^Vlfonso  to  Milan  for  the  protection  of  his 
^*^  tb«  earXx.     ^^tes.     But  events  moved  too  rapidly. 

^^  summer  of  1447,  at  the  instance  of  Pope 

»   See  *•'*  ****-^ 
r>iro*os«»  t<^    *^^^^  document  published  by  Cesare  Poucard. 
^S^^X.  **•**«  Cor<«  £s««««  ad  Alfonso  I  Re  di  NapoH^W. 

63 


DUKES   AND   POETS   IN  FERRAR 


Nicholas  V,  who  had  succeeded  to  Eugenius,  a 
was  held  at  Ferrara  to  arrange  peace  between  1 
Venice.     The  ambassadors  of  the  chief  Italian  St 
under  the  presidency  of  the  Cardinal  of  Burgui 
represented  the  Pope.      The  congress  broke  up 
on  the  news  of    theydeath  of    Duke   Filippo  I 
August  12.     The  attempt  of  the  Aragonese  facti 
occupied  the  Castello  of  Milan,   to  declare  for 
proved  abortive,  and  the  next  day  the  Ambrosian  I 
of  Milan  was  proclaimed. 

Pier  Candido  Decembrio  (the  elder  brother  oi 
Canullo),  who  had  been  one  of  the  two  Milanese  on 
the  congress,  now  entered  into  the  service  of  the  Rt  ^^ 
and  wrote  the  life  of  the  late  Duke,  taking  as 
the  life  of  Tiberius  by  Suetonius.     Filippo  Maria  YiSi 
in  August,  but  in  October  Decembrio  had  complet.v 
work  and  sent  it  to  Leonello,  as  to  a  kind  of  literary  dl 
to  ask  his  opinion  of  it,  before  publishing  it.       Tlie  IM 
professed  himself  much  delighted  with  the  book  axid  fla 
at  it  having  been  left  with  him  in  this  way,  tnxt   st] 
advised  the  author,  seeing  that  his  writings    mtou. 
immortal,  either  to  strike  out  or  to  veil  wliat  lie  hac 
concerning  a  secret  vice  of  the  Duke's.     Decembrio  ^ 
back  that  he  had  not  mentioned  this  vice  to  bring  in 
to  his  late  Prince,  but   rather  praise  and    glory,  st 
that  his  not  passing  it  over  in  silence  would  make  pt 
lend  faith  to  what  he  reported  in  his  favour.        Neverthc 
he  altered  the  passage  in  deference  to  Leonello's  opir 
and  the  alteration  was  much  commended   l>y   the   lat 
In  the  general  though,  as  it  proved,  temporary  dissolu 

^  Rosmini,  op,  cU^  i.  pp.  109,  no  ;  Borsa,  PUf  Oofndido  JOecen 
pp.  83,  84. 

64 


//   > 


PRINCES  AND    HUMANISTS 

^^  the  donxinioiis  of  the  Visconti,  Parma— finding  itself  hard 

i>re88ed    "by     -Alessandro  Sforza,   the  brother  of  the  Cotint 

Francesco        -ogered  to  return  to  the  House  of  Este.    But 

•^-^oneDo,      :fin<iing  Venice  opposed  to  any  annexation  of 

"O^is  Idnci  oxe   fais  part,  declined  to  accept  it,  and  Parma  fell 

into   the    Ixstncis  of  the  Sforza.     The  Milanese  Republicans 

somefwha-t       x-es^tonted  Leonello's   action,  and  he  wrote  to 

I>eceinbrio  oaa.    the  subject,  who  assured  him  that  the  love 

of  bis  fello-w— cntizens  for  him  remained  alwajrs  the  same.^ 

This  was  ixB.     -tlie  spring  of  144.9,  ^*  before  the  end  of  the 

yeax  the    slrs-oart-lived  Ambrosian  Republic  was  at  an  end, 

and    in  M:a.xr<sl3, 1450,  Francesco  Sforza,  the  great  condot- 

tiere.  was    f>aroclaimed  Duke  of  Milan. 

On  Jnljr  ^  of  this  same  year,  1450,  by  the  intervention 
of  I-eonello  and  Borso,  a  new  peace  between  the  King  of 
jja^ples  and  <:i,e  RgpubUc  of  Venice  was  cdebrated  in  the 
Palace  of  B^Ofiore.  The  bringing  about  of  this  peace  was 
Leo'*®*^*  *^st  poUtical  action. 

^'**bylir*^    ^'^^  ^^  Marchese  Leonello,  as  handed  down 

***  *^oke  ^_^^^*»temporaries  and  admirers.     Very  probably, 

^^^  features  ^^^  ™'^**  ^*®'**y  ™cense  has  somewhat  obscured 

^^^  8uge^_^*  *^®  ""^  '"'^^'  and  it  may  possibly  be,  as 

v^  o^evnlea^^^'  *^*  ''^^  ^^  a  courtly  fiction  passed  for 

J^eo  ti^e    ^^i*^  ^^  ^  °^*^  i«isight  was  in  reahty  Guarino's. 

\,is    place^l^^^^y  "^^  humanist  assures  us  that  the  Mar- 

^e  1^®  o«    V^  -^'^  ^^^^  "^^^iXiA  his  palace,  but  relied  upon 

v!^  t  it  repT-^**  V^V"^  it  may  be  a  mere  figure  of  speech  ; 

^4.    is  ab>UiS^^^**  ***  ^™®  ®^«**  the  real  state  of  things. 

lc*Xf<i^   ac^^*^y  ^^  that  he  was  an  enlightened  and 

■P^*^  ^^ixeign.       That   he  was  not  reputed  equal  to 

»  Boraa,  op.  ott.  p.  84. 
65 


DUKES   AND   POETS    IN    FEF 

his  father  in  liberality,  as  Enea  Silvio  Picc< 
may  not  be  altogether  to  his  discredit, 
gitimate  son,  Francesco,  who  was  older  thi 
in  the  year  of  his  father's  second  marriage 
under  the  Duke  of  Burgundy ;  but  the  swee 
immorality  brought  against  him  rest  oi 
authority.'  Probably  the  Ferrarese  diai 
very  much  overstate  his  case :  "  He  was  a  Ic 
of  most  honest  life,  a  lover  of  piety,  most  c 
divine  religion,  a  lover  of  the  poor,  liberal 
a  studious  hearer  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  pat 
sities,  moderate  in  prosperity.  He  ruled  I 
peace  with  great  wisdom."  * 

^  De  Viris  Illustribus,  p.  i6. 

'  Giraldi,  ComtMntario  dells  cose  di  F&nofa,  p.  92 
fini's  statement  about  his  contaminating  Braccio's  < 
zovene  bona  e  bella  "  (Cfonaca  di  Casa  d'Este,  p.  287). 
sensuality  are  directly  contradicted  by  Enea  Silvio,  D 
bus,  p.  16,  and  I  know  of  no  contemporary  author 
accusations  of  tyranny  and  cruelty  (i.  p.  563). 

*  Diario  Ferrarese,  col.  197. 


66 


Chapter   III 
DUKE  OF  MODENA 

IHE  rei^xs^  of  these  two  noble  brothers,  Leondlo  and 
Borso:,     *le  sons  of  Niccold  and  Stella,  were  an  age 
of  gold  for  is'^xrxrara.    There  was  somethuig  in  their  character, 
derived  per-I^2LX>s  from  their  beautiful  Sienese  mother,  that 
diff eirentiatoci     -them  from  their  predecessors  and  successors 
of   -tl*^  Hous^     of  Este ;  more   blithe  and  genial  than  their 
j^jj^^uaen,  t±i.^      darker  shadows   in  the  history  of  Ferrara 
liajTcHy   ^I>^^*-r    during  their    reigns;  conspiracies  are  few, 
and*  ^^^    '^'^^li^ix  they  are  brought  to  light,  the  repression 
tba-i^  follows,,     -tlxe  inevitable    butchery,  has  not  that  pecu- 
lia^^  ^^^"\^^*^^   atrocity  that  Mre  have  noted  under  Alberto 
aJi<*   ^^^^^     ^Lgain  when  Alfonso  is  on  the  throne.    No 
so^^^^^  ^^V^*^«  fifteenth  century  shed  so  Utti^ 
^^^^.^vcti  «  ^^^^ser  Lodovico  bas  fitly  coupled  them  together 
Ui  a.  »*        ^^^^:^^t:ed  stanza:— 
Veoi    :r 

Faixi^7^-^«>»«*lo»  «  ^^^  ^  primo  Duce, 
Cli^  ^a.e  la  sua  cti,  rincUto  Borso 

I>i    C4^^^^^®  ^  P*^»  ^  P^^  trionfo  adduce 
Chl^^^^*i  ^  ^^^  tenre  abbino  corso. 
H  ^t:^^^^*^  Marte  ove  non  veggia  luce 
Bi    ^!jt*^««^  ^  ^^^'^  ^«  ™am  al  dorao. 
Sa^r^^^^^to  Signer  splendido  ogni  intento 
^     ^ilie  '1  popolo  suo  viva  contento> 


CKlaiida    ^^5. 


^D^S^.Xkx.m^^^'*^^*  ^'  ^^'    "^^^^1^  LeoneUo;  and  behold  the 
^  »oryai  bis  age,  renowned  Borso,  who  aits  in  peace  aud 

67 


DUKES  AND   POETS  IN   FEl 

On  October  i,  1450,  Leonello  died  in  1 
riguardo.  With  his  last  breath  he  recom 
'^^^  Niccold,  then  a  boy  ^  twelve  years  old,  to  ] 
him  to  secore  the  succession  to  him  on  his 
in  the  meanwhile  to  act  as  father  to  the  lad. 
Michele  Savonarola  has  left  us  a  curioui 
Ferrarese  magnates — ^the  senate,  as  he  calls 
— gathered  together  in  the  Palazzo  della  R 
great  piazza,  to  elect  a  new  sovereign  ai 
discuss  the  ideal  form  of  government.  One 
government  of  a  single  man  is  best ;  a  secon< 
prefer  an  oligarchy ;  a  third  adheres  to  t 
propounded,  provided  that  they  get  a  true  ( 
tyT^xity  one  that  will  not  spurn  the  coimsels 
run  after  his  own  appetite.  A  fourth  ( 
the  question  :  Is  it  better  to  have  a  prince 
by  succession  ?  Their  late  prince  Niccold 
sons  worthy  of  the  sovereignty,  and  they  o 
him  that  they  are  morally  bound  to  choos 
The  glorious  government  of  Leonello  has  st 
Republic  will  be  better  ruled  by  one  of  his  b 
any  other,  and,  by  choosing  thus,  both  the 
sion  and  the  elective  principle  will  be  per 
Then  a  renowned  doctor  of  arts  and  medi 
the  qualities  of  an  ideal  prince,  at  very  cc 
pedantic  length.  A  sixth  speaker  finds  thei 
and  formally  proposes  him.  A  seventh  s] 
the  motion,  which  is  carried  with  acclamati 
of    "  Borso  I  Borso  I  "  which  are  clamorou 

gains  more  triumph  than  aU  who  have  invaded  th( 
He  win  imprison  Mars  from  the  light  of  day  and 
hands  behind  her  back.  Of  this  splendid  Lord  e^ 
be  that  his  people  may  live  happy.'* 

68 


"THE   DUKE   OF   MODENA 
tfae    crowd     io   the  pia^a  bdow.     A  deputation  promptiy 
gOGs  to  B^Jxriguardo  to  infonn  Borso  of  his  election. 

Ilms,  ai>I>^^«^tiy,  did  the  grandfather  of  Fra  Girdamo 
idealise' tbe    fixst  meeting  of  the  ConncU  of  the  Twelve  Sages 
after  JLeonello^s  death.*     If  there  was  any  pretence  of  an 
eleotion^it  ^vi^as  a  mere  empty  form,  and  the  people  dutifully 
acckdxnedl  -v^l:^^^^  was  akeady  an  accomplished  fact.    Borso 
entered   ir^-fco      liis  brother's  heritage  with  some  show  of 
reluctance,    x-esJ  or  assumed  ;  but  he  took  care  that  Ercole 
and    Sigisirio«n.<3lo,  who  were   still  away  at  Naples,  should 
not  l>e  infonrK^^sd  of  Leondlo's  illness  until  his  own  accession 
^^i^as  onsured.  The  Marchese  Lodovico  Gonzaga  of  Mantua, 

Leoo^Uo's    l:>:r<=>ther-in-law,  haxi  hurried  to  Ferrara  to  see 
if  jae  could   ci^:^   anything  for  his  young  nephew  Niccold,  only 
^^     find  Bozr^so's  position  unassailable.    Still  both  Ercole 
g^^    Niccold        liad  adherents     in  the  city— known  as  Dia- 
nistxx*^^^^    a:nci   Veleschi,  respectively,  from  the    diamond 
a»<i  *^^  saxl    tliat  were  the  crests  of  the  rival  pretenders— 
an^   ^.  ^^'^^I^i'^acy  of  the  Veleschi  was  discovered,  in  the 
^^^^^iSk^cS^r"^*    in  consequence  of  which  one  of  the  Trotti 
a^^        ic  o  Q     Clasari  perished   on  the  scaffold. 

%  D^    /«/*c»  ^5>^- 
xTM^ariofiy  I^^t^J^S^^ssu  illustnssint%  Barsii  Estensis  ad  marchionaium 
^f^x»s«'    Cort  ^^^^  ^  ^*«^"  ^**««<**w,  amiUUumque  Rodigii  (BibUoteca 
^^^^tUMrola,  ^    •       :t-at.  21 S)-     Quoted  in  part  by  Scgarizzi,  MichsU 

--^^tros  Ceri^   ^T       speakers  at  the   meetmg   are :  Prandscus   Mauri, 
\y^eP^  at   Vl^.^'^^^s  Bondenus,  Kicolaus  Agrippa  (so  at  least  in  the 
^r^l^soltts,    .^V^^^^^i^;   Seganza    has    Niccold    da    Ripa),    Magister 
^^io  ^cre^g^^^^^^^nius  Gains,  and  Cato  Seniw.     The  NigrisoU  and 
A.ti<y^^^^°^  V^^^V^^^^®^^  Ferrareae  famihes.    Fra  Giovanni  states  that 
^^S.  'P^^^'P^^^^ie^*  ^^  ^'^  ^^^®  ^^  ^^  twelve  Sages,  caUed  a  meeting 
^r;^  lact  tli^^^     "Wie  election  of  Borso  {Annales,  coL  461) ;  and  from 
'^ore  ^^xx^i^    '^^^^  "  Angustinns  VaUa  Pater  Patriae  (vel,  nt  nostro 
^^r^^  ^^rt^^*      Sapicntum  Censor),"  who  undoubtedly  played  tbe 
^t^^  Savti^v^^^   this  occaaon,  is  not    mentioned,  we  may  suspect 
**^^  "^^^^Cila's  account  is  a  mere  hterary  exerciae. 

69 


DUKES  AND   POETS   IN   FERRARA 

Pope  Nicholas  V  promptly  renewed  the  mvestiture  of 
the  vicariate  of  Ferrara  to  Borso  and  to  his  heirs,  tinder 
a  considerably  reduced  annual  tribute. 

Borso  raised  Ferrara  to  its  height  of  fame  and  glory. 
Under  his  rule  the  State  assumed  the  aspect,  acquired 
the  peculiar  characteristics  that  are  reflected  in  the  n»nance 
of  Boiardo,  the  epic  of  Ariosto.  In  his  fourth  Latin  eclogue 
the  former  poet  dates  the  beginning  of  a  glorious  age  of 
earthly  blessedness  from  his  accession,  in  wprds  not  re- 
motely suggested  by  the  famous  fourth  Virgilian  eclogue, 
and,  in  another  poem  of  the  same  pastoral  collection,  he 
hails  his  pacific  rule  in  lines  of  glowing  fervour : — 

Salve,  Estense  decus,  terrarum  gloria,  Borsi ; 
Quo  dace,  sideribns  terras  Astrea  relictis 
Incolit,  et  prisci  rursum,  quo  principe,  mores 
Aureaque  aeterni  redierunt  otia  veris. 
Salve,  Estense  decus,  sub  quo  fulgentia  Martis 
Agmina  et  horrendo  nescimus  classica  cantu  1  ^ 

With  Borso,  a  new  epoch  begins  for  the  House  of  Este. 
Hitherto,  although  usually  styled  "  Marchese  di  Ferrara," 
the  prince  was,  strictly  speaking,  only  titular  Marquis  of 
Este,  vicar  in  temparalibus  of  the  Church  in  Ferrara, 
feudatory  of  the  Empire  in  Modena,  Reggio  and  Rovigo. 
But  from  1452  dates  the  Duchy  of  Modena,  which  was 
destined  to  survive  even  the  French  Revolution,  only  to  be 
absorbed  in  the  new  Italy  of  the  Risorgimento. 

At  the  beginning  of  1452,  Frederick  of  Hapsburg,  King  of 
the  Romans,  came  to  Italy  for  his  imperial  coronation, 

^  "  Hail,  honour  of  Este,  glory  of  the  world,  Borso ;  und^^c  ^w^iose 
sway  Astraea  has  left  the  stars  to  dweU  on  earth ;  with  ^irbom  as 
prince,  the  manners  of  the  olden  time  and  the  golden  ease  ot  eternal 
spring  have  returned.     Hail,  jhonour  of  Este,  under  whom  we 
know  not  the  flashing  ranks  of  Mars,  and  the  fearful  music  of  the 
battle-trumpets  I  "  (Pastoralia,  vi.  65-70). 

70 


THE   DUKE  OF     MODENA 

with  bis  l^^'Oti'w.  I^^ke  Albert  of  Austria,  his  nephew, 
Kizig  ladisla-Tis  o*  Hungary  and  Bohemia,  and  a  train  of 
some  tvirel-v«  hundred  horsemen.  At  the  passage  of  the 
A.<lige  he  tfotind  Borso  waiting  for  him,  with  a  number  of 
the  minor  pjotentates  of  central  Italy  and  a  goodly  com- 
patny  oi  Ferrarese  nobles.  Borso  presented  the  monarch 
■viritb.  a  rc^ral  gift  of  horses  and  falcons,  and  brought  him 
from  Rovi^o  o'ver  a  long  bridge  of  ships  to  Ferrara,  where 
for  tea  days  he  kept  him  and  his  train  in  a  succession  of 
festivities  slucI  sumptuous  entertainments,  extorting  a 
sort  of  promise  from  him  that  lie  would  consider  the 
ma.tter  of  the  <3uchy  on  his  retam.  The  fact  was  that  the 
Oermans  had  not  yet  acquired  the  easy  morality  of  Italy, 
and  the  Caesar  elect  had  some  scruples  about  thus  elevating 
a  bastaid  to  the  rank  of  a  Duke  of  the  Empire. 

These  scnij>Xes,  however,  were  banished  by  Borso's 
'«*'^*****^  P^'^^O'iality,  his  universal  popularity  and  the 
fav^^he^enjoyed  with  the  Court  of  Rome;  and,  when 

^^-ted^fte^*^*^^  ^'^^  ^  coronation  in  May, he  formally 
"^^      j^*I*«rial  fiefs  of  Modena  and  Reggio  into  a 

*****^o  the  -1;^^^^^°"  ^*^'  ^^^^'  ^^^  ^^  ^*^  "  *^« 
^^the  o  Jr**^P*^  ''"**^  hinaself  in  full  imperial  robes, 

"^A  and^^^  °*  **^*  ^°^y  ^^''^  Empire  upon  his 
**^C!«ador  '^°™*^®**  ty  ^  »o^les  and  attended  by  the 
^  ^oa  '^^  ^^  ^*^^^  powers,  solemnly  enthroned 
^^^'^was  it:  ^^*  platform  erected  in  the  piazza.  So 
^  *  all  thJ^  "°^^'  *^*  "^^^  °°*  «>nly  the  square, 
^^\  ^e  p!.*^^*  °*  ^^  ^*^**^'  '""^  episcopal  palace 
^  ^  ur^'''^  ^^^  ^^**''^'  *^**'  ^^^^  Savonarola 
^^/«dedci    ^""^^^  ^^^  ^''"^^    ^^«8  could  be    seen. 

*'      ^WU^  ^^  S^^  ""^'^  ^  ^^^  ^  ^^  nmixljers. 
^w^^^  as^ovmded,  and  considering  the  richness  of  the    attire 

71 


DUKES    AND   POETS   IN   FERRARA 

of  their  nobles,  he  turned  to  his  followers  and  said : '  Verily 
this  is  a  city  worthy  of  the  Empire/  The  other  Gennans 
too,  in  the  tribunes  away  from  him,  were  so  amazed  at 
the  multitude  of  men,  at  the  precious  dresses  of  gold  and 
silk,  that  they  said  to  each  other  that  all  Germany  itself 
did  not  contain  so  many  rich  robes.  And  they  wondered 
at  the  beauty  and  goodliness  of  the  men  and  women,  which 
showed  them  that  those  who  blamed  the  air  of  Ferrara 
were  in  the  wrong."  ^  A  sudden  burst  of  music,  a  mingling 
of  martial  trumpets  with  the  softer  strains  of  flutes,  followed 
by  thundering  plaudits  of  "  Borso !  Borso !  "  and  "  Duca  1 
Duca  I "  announced  the  advent  of  the  hero  of  the  day. 

Preceded  by  four  hundred  nobles  on  horseback,  bearing 
white,  red  and  green  banners,  Borso  rode  out  of  the  Castello 
Vecchio ;  he  was  dressed  in  red  silk  and  doth  of  gold, 
covered  with  gems,  with  a  pointed  cap  equally  gorgeous 
and  round  his  neck  a  collar  of  jewds  valued  at  a  fabulous 
sum  in  golden  ducats.    The    acclamations    rose    higher 
and  higher  as  he  entered  the  piazza.    The   nobles,  still 
mounted,  formed  a  semicirde,  out  of  which  Borso  advanced 
alone,  dismounted,  ascended  the  platform  and  kndt  at 
Caesar's  feet.    There  he  was  solemnly  prodaimed  Duke  of 
Modena  and  R^gio,  Count  of  Rovigo ;  the  ducal  robe  of 
crimson  and  ermine  was  placed  over  his  shoulders;  the 
standards  of  the  three  imperial  cities  and  of  justice,  the 
naked  sword  and  the  golden  sceptre  were  put  into  his  hands. 
Then  Borso  took  his  seat  among  the  princes  of  the  Empire, 
next  to  the  Duke  of  Austria,  while  the  Emperor  conferred 
the  order  of  knighthood  upon  certain  noble  Ferrarese  and 

1  De  felici  progr^ssu,  etc.,  quoted  by  Segarizzi,  op,  cit.  pp,  73,  74. 
The  reader  will  not  fail  to  notice  the  professional  touch  in  Michele's 
last  words. 

72 


THE    DUKE    OF    MODENA 

others,  inducing  the  littie  Niccold  da  Correggio,  a  mere 
cViiLd.,\iie  Dtxke's  nephew,  and  young  Galeotto  della  Miran- 
<iola..  At  Caesar's  special  coixunand,  Monsignor  Enea 
Silvio  Piccolonvini,  then  Bishop  of  Siena,  delivered  an 
a-ddress  in  Italian,  so  that  the  people  too  might  mider- 
ststnci,  "  in  praise  of  the  Estensi,  and  about  the  new  dignity 
a-nd  the  supreme  merits  of  Borso,"  as  he  tells  us.  At  the 
end,  the  Emperor  rose  from  his  throne;  at  once  the 
iBishop  of  Kerrara  and  his  clergy,  who  were  present  in 
full  pontificals,  intoned  the  Te  Deunt  Laudamus,  in  which 
■ttxG  -whole  assemblage  joined,  and  led  the  procession 
to  th«  Duomo,  bearing  the  relics  of  St.  George  and  St. 
M^a-irrelius,  the  patron  saints  and  protectors  of  Ferrara. 
Before  the  high  altar,  the  newly  made  Dukft  took  the  oath 
of  fidelity  to  the  Emperor,  and  presented  him  with  a  rich 
collar  or  neckla.ce  adorned  with  jewels,  which  had  belonged 
to  bis  father  ^j^j  ^^^  ,^^  valued  at  40,000  ducats— 
the  whole  cer^^^ny  terminating  with  the  benediction  of 
the    Bishop  of     ^jjg  ^j^y     ,.^  ^^  ambassadors  who  were 

present,  ^t^s  Enea  Silvio.  "  commended  what  Caesar 
jjad  done,  an<^    ^  ^^^  ^^  ^^^     .^   ^^  ^  ^^^^^  ^^^ 

placed- 

^%  ^rn^'*^*  ^^  dispatched  the  Caesar  upon  his  home- 
vv&xa  5  ^  J^  to  Austria,  Borso  made  a  triumphal  progress 
tlxrotig  ^^  ^  t>^(,  ng^ly  created  duchies,  with  the  leading 
,aot»leS  ^  ^    ^^rrara  and  a  thousand  horsemen  in  his  train. 

H®  **^loveti^^^"P*"°'**  ^^  ^^°^*y  reception,  such  as  his 
l^eairt  ^^  .  In  each  town  through  which  he  passed  the 
iriJia-*^*  XH)ured  out  to  meet  him  with  songs  and  flowers. 

*  ^*^'FU^^»^<fen«  J«/>«»'a<on«,pp.94,9s  ;   Prizzi.iv.  pp.  20-2 v 
X>*<»«^66.  *'««.     *»"•    ^98-200;    Johannes    Ferrariensis,    coU. 

73 


DUKES   AND    POETS    IN    FERRARA 

At  Modena,  triumphal  chariots  met  him  at  the  gate  of 
the  city,  with  St.  Geminianus  surrounded  by  angels  in 
one  and  in  another  the  four  Cardinal  Virtues  "  adorned 
to  the  likeness  of  Venus  "  ;  the  streets  along  which  he  rode 
were  carpeted  with  rich  cloths,  while  scattered  before 
him  were  perfumes  and  flowers  of  every  kind,  from  which  a 
sweet  and  mingled  odour  rose,  as  in  Dante*s  Valley  of  the 
Princes.  Here  he  stayed  twelve  days,  in  a  succession  of 
feasts  and  sports,  and  met  his  half-brother  Ercole,  who 
had  come  unexpectedly  from  Naples  to  congratulate 
him. 

Fired  by  the  example  of  their  neighbour  and  rival,  the 
good  people  of  Reggio,  clergy  and  laity  alike,  rose  to  the 
occasion,  and  gave  their  first  Duke  a  greeting  to  be  ranked 
(says  oiu"  Fra  Giovanni)  "  among  the  most  rare  and  most 
lovely  spectacles."  When  Borso,  accompanied  by  young 
Ercole,  approached  the  walls,  the  governor  of  the  city 
came  out  to  meet  him  with  all  the  garrison  in  battle  array, 
with  the  nobles  of  the  district  on  hoi-seback  bearing  branches 
of  olive  in  their  hands,  and  the  multitude  shouting  "  Duca ! 
Duca !  **  Thousands  of  children  were  waiting  for  him 
at  the  gate,  crowned  with  flowers,  waving  olive  branches 
and  little  flags  with  the  ducal  arms,  raising  shrill  cheers, 
as  Borso  and  Ercole,  preceded  by  Fdtrino  Boiardo  bearing 
the  sword  of  Reggio,  drew  near.  There  was  a  halt  at  the 
gate.  A  great  chariot  appeared,  elaborately  designed, 
upon  which  San  Prospero,  the  chief  patron  of  the  city, 
seemed  to  float  in  air  surrounded  by  angels,  while  below 
him  was  a  kind  of  revolving  wheel  in  which  were  eight 
other  angels  with  musical  instruments,  singing  Borso's 
praises.  One  of  the  angels  turned  to  the  Saint,  courteously 
bade  him  surrender  the  kejrs  of  the  city  and   the  royal 

74 


^HE   DUKE  OF  MODENA 


sceptre  wtiicS^   tie  hdd,  and  then,  Avith  an  elegant  oration, 
solemnly  deli"^*"^^  *^«ni  to  *^®  ^^^®-    Then  came  another 
triumphal  ctia-iioti  of  most  gorgeous  aspect,  drawn  by  con- 
ceaLLed  horses  send  bearing  an  empty  royal  throne.    Behind  it 
stood  Justice,    with  the  sword  and   scales,  attended  by  a 
beautiful  boy,      Ai^els  held  the   canopy  over  her  head  ; 
-Regialus,  Ca-to,   Numa,  and  Cincinnatus  sat  at  the  comers 
of    the  chariot    with  angels  bearing   the  ducal  standards, 
vtrtiile  armed   youths  rode  on  either  side.    Admonished  by 
Justice's  attendant  genius,  Boreo  listened  to  the  discourses 
of    these  Roman  eldere  and  edified    all  beholders  by  his 
attentive  bearing,  while  they  assured  him  that  he  sur- 
passed   Caesar     in   clemency,    Octavianus    in    prudence, 
Trajan  in  justice,  Titus   in  Uberality,   Cato  in  gravity, 
Scaevola  la  magpnitude  of  soul,  Antoninus  in  piety,  and 
either  aqua  ed  or  outstripped  every  other  famous  personage 

"*  ^'^  tadi^e*^^*^*^  ''^^'    ^^''*  ^'^^^  a  car  in  the  form 
of  a.  e,   wixich  seemed  to  be  rowed  by  ten  Saracens, 

^"*  -orwasdJ^^^^*^  ^'^  ^^  concealed  men.    A  fourth 

cbario    ^^  1^'*'*^  ^y  artificial  unicorns,  Borso's  own  chosen 

^^*^h^tv  ^*"^  ^  pahn-tree,  among  the  branches  of  which 

^ritt^*^  ^^  ^*°^S  torch. 

f  ^«ipes'  S|^  "*  ^^'  ^l^^  of  trumpets,  the  music 

Kurcho*  Jr^*®^'  ^^  "'^^^  procession  moved  on  to 

**'^  ^f  in  J  ^^  ^^^^~'  ""^^^  ^^  Prin<=e  of  the  Apostles 

***"*rfront  a^^^^'y'^*^  *''*'  ^^els,  descended  from  the 

^?     receiv^^    P^*^^  *  ^""^  ^^'^^^^  "Po«  Boreo's  head. 

Tl^^'oppo-itT  ^  ,^^^^  '^""7f  :  ,^  ^o  lofty  pillars, 

^**^;  so^"""^*^  ^'  ""^^  ""f"^  ^^^^°'^*  exhortation. 

sYia.*^^*       ^  Pieces.    As  the  procession  swept  on  towards 

76 


DUKES   AND   POETS    IN   FERRARA 

the  cbief  piazza,  Caesar  2^>peaied  with  seven  nynphs, 
representing  the  seven  Virtaes,  and  Borso  was  exhorted 
to  puisne  them.  The  Duke  dismounted  and  entered  the 
Dnomo,  **even  as  a  spouse  is  bi ought  to  her  husband" 
(so  our  good  Minorite  puts  it).  After  praying  for  some 
while  before  the  altar,  he  seated  himself  upon  a  throme  in 
front  of  the  church,  and  the  pageant  paraded  before  him 
again.  Charity  hailed  him  as  the  "  Mirror  of  Christiauis/' 
the  "  Only  Delight  of  wretched  mortals,'*  the  "  Worthy 
Rose  of  the  World."  San  Prospero  offered  up  de  vout 
prayers  to  heaven  for  his  preservation.  From  the  top 
of  the  Palazzo  del  Capitano,  three  angels  flew  down  and 
"  with  most  sweet  harmony  "  gave  Borso  a  palm  in  sign 
of  peace.* 

Peace,  indeed,  was  to  be  the  prevailing  note  of  Borso's 
government.  Curiously  unlike  his  father  and  brother 
in  many  other  respects,  he  was  bent  upon  continuing  their 
foreign  policy,  of  keeping  Ferrara  free  from  war  and  making 
it  a  common  meeting-ground,  as  it  were,  for  the  representa- 
tives of  all  the  Italian  powers  to  arrange  the  peace  of  the 
peninsula. 

A  few  years  later,  in  May,  1459,  Enea  Silvio  came  again 
to  Ferrara,  but  now  as  Pope  Pius  II,  on  his  way  to  Mantua 
m  that  vain  but  heroic  attempt  to  unite  the  powers  of 
Christendom  against  the  Turks,  who,  as  he  put  it,  had 
"  taken  the  royal  city  of  Constantine,  slain  his  namesake, 

1  These  pageants,  which  were  devised  by  Malatesta  Ariosti,  are 
described  in  full  by  Johannes  Ferrariensis,  coll.  466-472.  (I 
have  not  been  able  to  consult  Adolf 0  Levi's  publication,  referred  to 
in  the  GiortMle  Storico  della  Letteratura  Italiana,  xx3cv.)  Borso  was 
delighted  at  the  entertainment  provided  for  him,  and  testified 
his  satisfaction  by  remitting,  entirely  or  in  part,  a  number  of 
unpopular  taxes  which  the  citizens  of  Reggio  had  paid  to  the 
ducal  chancery. 

76 


THE    DUKE   OF    MODENA 

butchered  his  people,  profaned    the  temples  of  the  high 
*^o<l,  and  deWed  Santa  Sophia,  the  noble  work  of  Justinian, 
^^th   the  fold  rite  of  Mahomet.'"     Borso  expected  great 
things  from  this  visit;  on  the  elevation  of  the  Cardinal  of 
Siena,  to  the  Pontificate,  he    had  held  pubUc  rejoicings, 
Gxxated  in  his  kinship  with  the  Holy  Father  (who  acknow- 
ledged himself  related  to  the  Xolomei,the  famUyof  Borso's 
mother),  and  given  thanks  to   God  that  a  Pope  had  been 
elected  from  whom  there  was     nothing  that  he  covdd  not 
obtain.     «  Nor  would  he  have  been  wrong  in  so  thinking," 
writes  Pius,"  if  he  had  asked  for  things  more  fit  for  us  to 
grajnt." ' 

T  ^^  ^^  ^'"''"  ''^'  """^  *^  ™^t  the  Pontifl,  with  the 
Lor-cas   of  Forli,Cesena.  Rimini,     Miiundola.  Correggio  and 

^ThoT  ^'""^  ^'^^'"'^  ^  ^^^^o  and  seven  bastards 
Strewn  ^T,"''''  *'"  ^**«'^<iants.'  The  streets  were 
^nTwi^n,  "^  ""**  '^^^"^^^  ^th  cloths,  everything 
Xtnce  Of  ""  ^1  *^  ^  *--W«d  with  bells.l,  i^ 
with  men  can^,-^"^  iT^''*'''  *«^«  ^'^^'  surrounded 
upon  which  ^^  !  ^orc:!,^,^  a  spotless  white  horse. 
of  Our  Lord  M^'  "^     Sacrament,    "the  Body 

robed  in  wk.-.^' J^"^  ^^^st,"  Pius  himself  foUowing. 


Porta  di  San  p"!    'T  ^  "''*'"^  "P°"  ^is  head.    At  the 
the  Pope's  fo^r  i"'.  <iismounted,  knelt  and  kissed 

oot.  offenng  up  to  him  the  keys  of  the  city. 


»  Address  to 


<^o*ntneni^  .***®  Congress  at  Matit«»      r^^ 
AJbe^'^''»»,  ii.  D.  I02.  ^*'**-     opera,  ^.go7. 


Alberto 


bastard  of  lLT  ^^^ne,  Rinaldo,  half-K^^4.i. 

^'    '    ■      M^    Wn  dispensed  from   h.?*^"-"' bastards  of  MeUa- 
~-'^^^-        Niccol6  di  Uon^^^^^^^i^"^  orders  and 


Estense  born 

Burkhardt  f  15.  ***    lawful  wedlock-^a  "ti,^^  ****  ''"^  creatur 
d'Este,  p.  s)  Relish  translation,  pp.  2,    "^  so  unnatural  that  even 
*^<tx  unable  to  reaike  it    '  ^^^  ^^'^  **"•  ^dy  (fi««ftj« 


wa^  that  rare  creature  an      / 


77 


DUKES   AND   POETS   IN   FERRARA 

Daring  the  eight  days  that  Pins  stayed  in  Ferrara,  the 
festivities  were  for  the  most  part  of  a  religious  nature ; 
on  the  feast  of  the  Coq)us  Domini,  the  Pope  granted  a 
plenary  indulgence  and  himself  carried  the  Blessed  Sacra- 
ment in  the  procession.  Borso  was  persistent  in  his 
demands.  He  wanted  the  Pope  to  make  him  Duke  of 
Ferrara  and  to  remit  the  tribute,  which  meant  to  surrender 
all  the  rights  that  the  Church  claimed  in  the  city.  Pius 
answered  that  he  could  not  deprive  the  Roman  Church 
of  her  tribute,  but  offered  him  the  duchy  with  the  retention 
of  the  tribute — ^which  Borso  refused.  "Nevertheless  he 
obtained  other  concessions  of  great  weight,  and  hoped  to 
receive  greater  in  the  future.'*  ^  On  the  Pope's  departure, 
Borso  gave  him  "  a  sideboard  all  of  silver,  most  worthy, 
which  was  deemed  of  the  value  of  8,000  ducats,  which  his 
Holiness  accepted  and  then  gave  back  to  the  Duke, 
saying  that  God  knew  to  whom  it  would  remain  after  his 
death."  * 

At  the  Congress  at  Mantua,  Borso's  orators,  **  in  order," 
says  the  Pope,  "  that  they  might  seem  to  be  doing  more 
than  the  rest,"  promised  in  the  Duke's  name  the  huge 
sum  of  300,000  gold  ducats  for  the  expedition  agsiinst  the 
Turks,  "  not  without  admiration  of  the  hearers."  '  But, 
on  his  return  from  the  Congress  in  January,  the  Pope  would 
not  stop  at  Ferrara  for  more  than  one  night.  Borso  met 
him  on  the  Po  near  Rovigo  in  a  Bucentaur,  surrounded  by 
a  whole  flotilla  of  gaily  adorned  smaller  boats,  with  music 
and  pageants  all  along  the  shore  as  they  moved,  so  that 

*  Commentarii,  ii.  pp.  102, 103. 

>  Storia  di  Ferrara  (apparently  by  Ugo  Caleffini),  MS.  in    the 
Biblioteca  Nazionale  of  Florence,  xxv.  8.  539,  f.  40. 
s  CommenUmiy  Hi.  p.  169. 

78 


THE   DUKE   OF    MODENA 

it  made  *'  Si-   "^'O'^^ous  sight,"  as  T*ius  has  it.    On  the  ship 
BoTso  sigrie<i  the  decree  r^ardii^  the  levying  of  tithes  for 
the  Crvisa.<3.«  5  ^^t.  ^  *^e  following  March,  he  refused  to  let 
them  be    collected.^    In  fact,  this   papal  visit  to  Ferrara 
hsLd  left  lx>tli  parties  in  a  bad  humour  with  each  other, 
sLxid  strained    a  friendship  of  fifteen  years'  standing.    Al- 
though Borso    presently  furnished   two  (apparently  Vene- 
tian) ships  a.nd  a  few  men  to  the  g^eat  undertaking,  he  was 
bitterly  disappointed  in  Pius,  while  Pius,  no  less  incensed 
against  Borso,    -went  so  far, as  to  threaten  him  with  excom- 
munication .  • 

Pius  has  left  us  a  portrait  of  Boiso  as  he  first  saw  him 
in  the  days  of  Leonello,  when  as  Enea  Silvio,  the  imperial 
secretaiy  (fresh  from  that  interview  with  Pope  Eugenius 
I^»  wiucn  -Pintoricchio  has  recorded  in  the  fomth  fresco 
in  the  Library  of  the  Duomo  at  ^iena),  he  passed  through 
Ferrara  in  X445  on  his  way  back  to  the  King  of  the  Romans. 

"  ^^  mr^^^^^'"  ^^  ^^^'  "^°'"s*^iP  Win  almost  as  God. 
^ZJ^  r?^  ^^iidsome  than  words  can  tell,  facetious  and 
*"  d  wthoT'*'*^^'*^^  ^""^  ^  liberality,  robust  in  his  body 
^^  <JdoSxJ-  ^^^  blemish."'  This  extraordinary  beauty 
****  t  and  ^^*^  ^  ^^^y  manhood,  and  in  later  Ufe  he  grew 
^rT^  almost*^^^"*^  considerably  in  appearance ;  but  to 
-  re  adn>-  ^*^^^®  honours,  apparently  proceeding  from 
**?*^rtie  cht  ^^^*°'''  P*^*^  ^"^  ^y  ^^s  courtiers  and  people, 
^^ .  . ^*^i«ders  bear  ample  witness.    Bluff  and  heartv 


*^       ♦  oo^^^^'  ^^"^^"^  """^  good-natured,  he  loved  magni- 

^^'^^^id  ^"^  ^^^P^^y*  ""^  *^^^  *^^*  were  bright  and 

splencu  .  aixci  was  passionately  addicted  to  hunting  and 


39- 
79 


DUKES   AND   POETS   IN    FERRARA 

field-sports   of    all  kinds.       He  would  ride  thro 

streets  of  Ferraxa  in  gorgeous  robes,  covered  with  { 

costliest  jewels,  dazzling  the  eyes  of  all  beholders. 

was  there  a  Lord  who  gave   so   much  audience  ] 

as  he  did  every  day.     He  always  seemed  laughS^ 

never  let  any  one  leave  him  discontented.**  *    His  g< 

and  liberality  were  more  than  imperial,  and  becam< 

bial  in  Italy :  "  Whoso  would  find  Heaven  open, 

experience  the  liberality  of  Duke  Borso.'**      H; 

factions  to  the  Church  were  most  lavish,  and  th^^ 

Carthusian  monastery  of  San  Cristoforo,  that  he  i 

recalls  his  name  even  to  this  day.     "  The  Signor  ha 

it  so  magnificent,"  writes  Caleffini,  "  that  it  woul< 

for    the    Pope."    Not    only    towards    his    courtii'-^ 

favourites — such   men   as   Michele   Savonarola, 

Castelli  (Savonarola^s  successor  as  chief  physician     ^^^ 

Court),  Lodovico  Casella,  his  privy  counsellor    w^lxorti     v. 

called  his  "  right  eye,"  Teofilo  Calcagnino,  his  ha-ndsc*      ^ 

young  companion — was  he  prodigal  in  gifts  of  laarid 

palaces  ;  but  even  his  barber  Pietro,  his  jester  Scocol^^ 


"  nobile,  facetissimo  e  soavissimo  buffone,"  and  the    i>^a-sa 
woman  who  offered  him  mushrooms  when  out   h.xxnt:in 
did  not  go  without  ample  rewards.     "Never,"  w^rot^ 


buffoncy  "  has  his  Excellence  left  his  poor  Scocolet 


XIX 


tlie 


1  Ugo  Caleffini,  Craniche  del  Duca  Ercole,  f .  9  ;  Storia  dL%,  ;^^ 
f.  561;.  I  may  here  state  that,  when  referring  to  Cai^fi^^^^ 
Croniche  del  Duca  Ercole  I  mean  the  Costabili  manuscrip>-t  ,^  "^V 
Museum,  Add.  MS.  22,  324),  while  Storia  di  Ferrara  is  "fclx^  ociJi^^' 
of  the  National  Library  at  Florence,  and  Cronaca  di  Col^^^  ci*^K*^^^ 
the  rhymed  chronicle  printed  by  Cappelli.  -Estc 

"  Luzio   and   Renier,  Niccolo   da   Correggio,  i.  p.  208.         ^^.-f 
long^ist^of  Borso's  donations  in  Ugo  Caleffini,  CronaccM^     ^^    *^^-^^^^ 
d'Este,  pp.'  293-301 .  ^^€M^^ 

80 


THE   DUKE   OF     MODENA 

Inrch  in.  ^LXty  of  his  necessities.**  ^  The  fame  of  Borso's 
magnificexxl:  proceedings  and  of  his  phenomenal  lavishness 
passed  exr^n.  the  bounds  of  Eiarope ;  eastern  potentates 
sent  eiabsLSsies  and  offerings  to  liim,  under  the  impression 
tliat  lie  v^sLS  the  sovereign  of  all  Italy. 

It  is  maxiifest  that  this  magnificence  bordered  on  pro- 
digality, 3jnd  the  ducal  benefactions  were  too  frequently 
l>estowed  xtpoTi  unworthy  recipients.  A  number  of  corrupt 
suid  avaricious  ofi&cials  simply  preyed  upon  the  people, 
ajad  remained  as  an  evil  legacy  to  Borso's  successor.  Even 
in  Borso's  lifetime,  Michele  Savonarola  satirized  the  manners 
of  the  Conrt:  in  his  De  Nupiiis  BaUibecco  et  Serrabocca, 
stating  plainly  that  "  the  giving  of  robes,  horses,  possessions 
ana  money  to  buffoons  and  imworthy  men,  diminishes 
the  love  of  the  people.'*  ^  The  Dnke  coupled  his  lavishness 
^'  ^^^^     '^S    ^th  an   unbending  severity  in  punishing, 

^^-^^lati*^^^^^  ^  ^  ^^^^  ^^  ^^^  former.  The  goods  of 
^"^  ^th^  ^fifenders— such  as  tha.t  Uguccione  dalla  Badia, 
^^^eflJcd  a  ^^^  secretaries,  who  in  1460,  for  not  having 
^-^asaca^'^^^^P"^^^  ^"^^  ^^  ^^  ^^*  take  seriously, 
end  ij^^^iedby  theDuke  himself  into  Castel  Vecchio 

favourites  ^J^*'"""^"'!  confiscated  and  given  to  the 
^ame  ^^^  ^^''*^'  whereby       many  from  servants  have 

ce  show^*^^'^''' "  ""^  ^"^  '^^'''"  offenders,  he  never 
"^^Tbe  Du?^    ^^^^y  ^"^  ""  *'^*  throughout  his  reign.» 

+emal^^  ^^  ^  ^^^^  administrator  and,  with  all  this 
^^^  ^^Snificence,  knew  how  to  keep  his  lavishness 

^.j  JS,^!^^  ?,^ffr^   ^^«  ^^'    ^^   Perrara,    in    the    Bivista 

*_•«  ^,    PP^Hi,  Fra  Girolamo  Savonarola,  n  ^nc  ,«i.  «4- 

of  ^*^?J^^I^^^xs  ^ork  is  given.  '  ^  ^°^'  ^^'^  ^^^  ^^"^"^ 


81 


DUKES    AND    POETS    IN    FERRARA 

within  bounds.  Richer  than  his  predecessors  and  success^^^ 
he  neverthel^s  had  recourse  to  strange  iinancial  metl:i<=>^^" 

Not    unfrequently,    professors    of     the    Studio,    paint^i^ 
to  the  Court,  and  other  creditors,  were  not  paid  in  mo^^y* 
but  by  the  cession  to  them   of  debts  due   to  the  dtic^ 
tre^ury.     Throughout  the  duchy  heavy  fines  were  extort^  ^ 
for  the  infringement  of  all  kinds  of  petty  regulations*  ^^ 
the  officials  were  instructed  to  "suck  all  the  juice  *'    tli^y 
could  out  of  the  ducal  subjects.     Blasphemy  was  a  p^^ 
offence  and  a  great  source  of  income  to  the  ducal  coff ^*^ 
a  man  being  even  fined  for  saying  **  God  Himself  could  ^* 
do  this."     In  these  cases,  two-thirds  went  to  the  State  ^^ 
a  third  to  the  informer.    One  result  of  this  was  that 
became  a  most  lucrative  calling  in  Ferrara.^ 

Nevertheless,  Borso  kept  his  popularity  to  the  last^^^ 
many  respects  he  was  open  and  simple-hearted  as  a  u*^ '    ^^ 
an  "anima  innocente,"  his  successor  called  him  in  .szit^ 
years.    In  the  midst  of  the  moral  corruption  of  his  O        ^ 
surrounded  by  the  bastard  kindred  of  his  House,  It  ^ 

mained  sincerely  and  devoutly  religious ;  almost  alone  a^  ^^ 
the  princes  of  the  Renaissance,  his  private  life  appe=^^<i^ 
have  been  pure  and  blameless,  beyond  the  reach  of  cali-»^  X_^ 

Leonello,  with  the  aid  of  the  elder  Guarino,  had  iir^wri 
Ferrara  with  the  humanistic  spirit  of  the  Classical  R 
Borso  was  devoid  of  all  scholarship  ;   but  he  coni^ 
Leonello's  generous  patronage  to  scholars  and  men  of  1»  J 
rewarding  with  a  lavish  hand  the  dedications  that*^ 
presented  to  him,  and  added  what  was  needed  to  pr^ 
the  soil  to  produce  the  splendid  flower  of  the  Itahan  Ro: 
Epic.     His  very  lack  of  scholarship  stimulated  vem 

^  Cf.    A.  Venturi,  L'ArU  a  Fsrrara  nd  pmodo  di  Borsa 
pp.  696,  697^ 

82 


-  I 


^%r.^lli 


THE   DUKE  OF     MODENA 

litetatar-e  i**  ^s  circle-  ^®  I>a3c:e  knew  no  Latin,  and  his 
■wrealtiiy-  f  a-voarite,  Teoao  Calca.gnino,  shared  his  ignorance, 
the  resul-t  ■t>«ing  that  those  men  of  letters  who  sought  their 
patronage  -were  compelled  to  adopt  the  sermone  moda'no,tbe 
vnlgar  tongue. 

"  I  had  determined,"  wrote  Carlo  da  San  Gioi^o  to  Borso, 
a-fterthe  conspiracy  of  the  Pio  of  Carpi,  "  for  the  defence  of 
thy  glorious  name,  as  also  for  the  information  of  those  that 
come  aitear  us,  to  write  in  Latin  concerning  the  treason  that 
ivas  lately  plotted  against  thee.  But  Fortune,  the  foe  of 
ev«y  virtuoTis  man,  hath  not  vouchsafed  to  add  to  thy  other 
singular  ornaxnents  the  ornament  of  letters,  the  which  is  the 
most  excellexit  that  man  can  have.  To  prove  this,  infinite 
reasons  could  be  alleged,  inasmuch  as  thou  canst  not 
appreciate  the  worth  and  the  power  of  Uterature;  but,  since 
there  is  no  remedy  for  it,  we  will  bear  it,  as  God  wills,  in 
P®**^j  ^^^^eii  I  had  presented  my  little  book  to  thee,  I  was 
^^^-  ^^^  *^riously  abused  by  my  magnificent  and  dearest 
^°^dco  ^^^"^  '^^^°'  ^^  ^  '*  "vv^ere  calumniated,  as  though 
^  L  ^"*'*****^  ^  enormous  error  in  writing  such  a  business 
*h  t^a'i^  ****  "*  ^^^  "^^^^  speech.  I  pardon  him,  seeing 
hi  '^  **°®  ***  ^°^  ^^^  ^"°^  "°*  letters,  which, 

^'"^icras    ^     ^^^^'^  excellent  virtues,  would  shine  out  like 
P[^  V  ^*'^'**^-    ^^^'  wishing  to  do  something  that  should 
H    brotV^  ^tl-thee,  my  dear  and  only  Lord,  and  the  others 
aer  th  ^^^  ^^^  companions— as  is  my  desire  and  duty,  in 
*^^  ^       ^*  ■*^liou  mayest  get  some  pleasure  by  reading  in  the 
^^^^       *    ^^^  ^^**  *^°''  ''°''^*^*  °°*  otherwise  taste  by 
^^^    ?     ^^y  lack  of  letters,  I  have  rendered  this  little 
v^roTK  ot  x^j^^  ^^^  ^g  vernacular,  albeit  there  is  as  much 
aT""^  ^  swee^iess  and  suavity  between  one   language 
aji.<\  me  ot^er,  as  there  is  between  a  sweet  and  deUcate  vnne 

83 


DUKES    AND    POETS    IN    FERRARA 

and  another,  rough  and  unpleasant,  that  one  is  compelled 
by  thirst  to  drink."  ^ 

This  writing  down  to  poor  Borso's  level  is  delightful  ;  but 
other  translators  took  a  different  tone.  "  Right  humbly 
do  I  pray  and  beseech  thee,  my  dear  Lord,"  writes  Polis- 
magna  to  the  Duke,  in  a  letter  accompanying  his  version  of 
Pier  Candido  Decembrio's  Lawi*  dellaCittd  di  Milano,  '*that 
thou  mayest  deign,  with  thy  wonted  mansuetude,  to  excuse 
my  ignorance  with  those  who  shall  blame  me,  and  especially 
concerning  the  words  used  in  this  translation.  I  know  that 
thou  art  Ferrarese ;  I,  too,  am  Ferrarese ;  and  Ferrara, 
renowned  city  of  Italy,  has  produced  us,  reared  us,  and 
brought  us  to  our  present  estate ;  and,  therefore,  I  could 
not  manage  the  language  save  in  the  Ferrarese  idionci,  the 
which,  in  my  opinion,  has  not  less  elegance  than  any  other 
Italian  speech.  So  if  thou  art  pleased,  I  think  that  every 
man  will  be  satisfied."  * 

The  language  in  question  is,  however,  something  quite 
distinct  from  the  local  dialect  of  Ferrara.  It  is  a  variety  of 
the  Lombard  type  of  vernacular,  a  blending,  we  may  say, 
of  Dante's  courtly  ideal  Italian  with  many  words  and  forms 
of  the  Ferrarese  and  other  Emilian  or  Lombard  dialects ; 
with  various  local  modifications,  it  is  the  language  used  by 
the  literary  circles  and  by  the  Courts  of  Mantua  and  the 
other  petty  states  of  Northern  Italy.     Its  highest  flight  is 

1  Dedicatory  letter  prefixed  to  La  Congiura  dei  Pio  coniro 
Barso  d*Este,  edited  by  A.  Cappelli,  pp.  377,  378.  Letters  is  here 
used  as  the  technical  term  for  Latin. 

*  Bertoni,  La  Bihlioteca  Estense,  p.  123.  Against  Cappelli  and 
Venturi,  Bertoni  shows  that  this  Polismagna,  a  Ferrarese,  who 
appears  to  have  been  also  a  miniaturist,  is  not  to  be  identified 
with  Carlo  da  San  Giorgio,  who  was  one  of  Borso's  chaml^erlains 
and  by  origin  a  Bolognese  (op.  cit.,  p.  55,  note  i).  Polia  magna 
also  translated  Decembrio*s  life  of  Filippo  Maria  Visconti. 

84 


THE   DUKE  OF     MODENA 

found  a.  ^^^VL^^^r  of  a  century  later  in  the  romantic  poem  of 
Boiardo.^         Polismagna  is  only  one  of  a  number  of  similar 
translatox-s  seeking  Borso's  patronage  ;  many  men  of  letters 
in  like  xna-runer  presented  him  with  translations  of  their  own 
Latin  books,  or  of  those  of  their   contemporaries,  or  of  the 
classical  aLxithors;  some— but  comparatively  few — composed 
original  proems  in  Itahan  for  his  acceptance.*     Thus  "  the 
succession,  of  Borso  to  Leonello  ivas  providential,  inasmuch 
as    the  former  succeeded  in   tempering   the  influence  of 
humanism   by  promoting  and  protecting  vernacular  litera- 
ture;   and    so,  while  the  classicism  planted  by  Leonello 
remained  and  continued  to  flourish,  the  sermonetnoderno  was 
also  cultivated,  to  correspond  with  Borso's  personal  desires.** » 
And,  together  with  this  development  and  cultivation  of 
the  vemacTxUj.^  ^  sp^i^j  ^^^  ^^^  fashion  for  the  romances 
of       ^3iry-^     alike  in  the  French    originals  and  in  Italian 
translations,      spread  through   the    Ferrarese  Court;    the 
^^^^  ^^    *^^  Carolingian  cycle,  or  materia  di  Francia, 
Idch  D^^iT^  ^*  *^  Arthurian  cycle,  or  materia  di  Brettagna, 
^J^^j.  „       ^  ^ad  styled  "  the  most  beauteous  fables  of  King 
^^^Wp  \^y^^    ^^^  Candido  Decexnbrio  stigmatised  as  "in- 

eredb^leFrexxoiUes." 

This  heui    v^  i. 

Marcbese  ISTi^^'  ^  ^t  ^l^    ^'''  ^  ^^  ^y^  <^*  ^^ 
■      the  ha.^- + "^^^^  "^  '  °*  LeoneUo's  Court  were 

*"  oTOUs  nt      ^^  embroidering  in  gold  upon  their  sleeves  an 
am  *^ot:to  culled  from  some  chivalrous  French  story  ; 

*  Bertom.    ^^  ■' 

lAl^raxy  (.CoS^"  anonymous  capitoU  m  i^,a  rima  in  the  Vatican 
^  :Faippo  ?;,f^PPO"^?:  "9)  aad  the  decidedly  interesting  canzone 
^  etotiTv^^^^*'*'^'  addressed  to  Borso  at  the  end  of    |  volume 
^ttBeom,  A^' ^  ^  one  msensible  to  the  darts  of  love  fBritisb 
^SuiA  oi ^- MS.  22,  335),  axe  good  examples.    I  have  gi^en  some 
®*^ii«v«.   ^**ae,  with  extracts,  m  Appendix  I.  ** 

85 


^•m 


DUKES    AND    POETS    IN   FERRARA 

but  in  the  days  of  Borso  it  became  a  perfect  passion.  The 
romances,  which  the  ducal  library  already  possessed  in  good 
store,  were  perpetually  being  borrowed,  in  great  request 
among  the  courtiers  and  ladies — those  of  the  Arthurian 
cycle  being  especially  favoured.  In  the  winter  evenings,  in 
the  warmed  and  brilliantly  lighted  halls  of  the  gay  Corte 
Vecchia,  or  during  the  long  smnmer  afternoons  in  the 
gardens  of  Belfiore  or  Belriguardo,  to  the  sound  of  the 
splashing  water  of  the  marble  fountains  and  the  music  of 
the  birds  among  the  laurels  and  myrtles,  the  princesses  and 
their  cavaliers  lingered  over  the  loves  of  Lancelot  and 
Tristram,  followed  MerUn  to  his  living  tomb,  or  even  at 
times — ^a  touch  of  m5rsticism  being  inherent  in  the  Ferrarese 
character — strove  to  ascend  to  the  suprasensible  heights  at- 
tained by  those  who  achieved  the  quest  of  the  HolyGraal.* 
Borso  himself  loved  these  books.  He  had  Italian  versions 
of  the  Merlin  and  Lancelot  richly  illuminated,  and  we  find 
him  in  1460,  while  in  his  villeggiatura,  sending  to  the  library 
for  a  Lancelot  in  French  with  which  to  correct  one  in 
Italian.^  Thus  was  the  ground  in  Ferrara  prepared  for  the 
romance  of  Boiardo,  the  epic  of  Ariosto. 

Not  that  the  classical  studies  promoted  by  Leonello  were 
neglected.  Little  though  Borso  personally  cared  for  such 
things,  he  fully  realized  that  to  promote  culture  of  every 
kind  tended  to  the  glory  of  the  sovereign.  A  more  thorough 
organiser  of  the  finances  and  richer  than  Leonello,  he  could 
afford  to  be  no  less  generous  than  he  to  the  University. 
The  elder  Guarino  still  remained,  as  high  in  honour  and 
favour  as  ever,  imtil  his  death  at  the  ripe  age  of  ninety,  in 

/        ^  Cf.  Bertoni,  op,  cit.,  cap.  iv. ;  Venturi,  op.  cit.,  pp.  692,  693  ;  Pio 
%     Rajna,  Le  Fonti  dell*  Orlando  Furioso,  Introduction. 
'  Venturi,  op.  cit.,  p.  692. 

86 


THE  DUKE  OF     MODENA 

1460 ;   li^    ^*^  behind  him  a  large  fanuly  of  sons,  of  whom 
one  oi  *!:»«   yoimger,  Battista,  laa.cl  inherited  not  a  Uttle  of 
ids  fath.ejr*s  talents.    Lascaris  and  other  Greek  exiles  were 
cordially    -welcomed  and  hospitably  entertained.    Pier  Can- 
dido  Decembrio,  after  fishing    for  an  invitation  through 
IxKiovico     Casella,  came  to  the    Court  at  the  beginning  of 
X467,  and   stayed  on  into  the  next  reign,  with  a  generous 
pension,  -very  jealous  of  the  great  fame  and  reputation  that 
Ouarino  liad  left  behind  him,  while  he  himself  was  adulated 
t>y  Tito  Vesp>a^iano  Strozzi  and  young  Niccold  da  Corr^gio— 
the  latter  hailing  him  as  the  greatest  example  of  virtue  and 
gloiy,  the  most  splendid  Ught  of    their  age  that  God  had 
granted  to  youth.^    And  the  Latin  poetry  that  Leonello  had 
loved  continued  to  be  the  medium  of  courtly  flattery— and, 
m  the  case  of  two  poets,  of  something  greater.  Tito  Strozzi 
*^'his  "  t  ^"*^^  ^  °^*°  ^°^^»  «^d  celebrating  the  virtues 
**      •  c^  '"*^'*>  in  the  language  and  rh3rthms  of  the  13^10  and 

^!S„S**^*^     °^  Rome-though     he  felt  the  new  impulse 
sufficiently   -ta-k      J    -i  xu  X  u    1 

"  translated    -     *  wntten  in  the  vernacular, 

«itb  consola  *^  ®^^^*  ^^  ornate  language,"  may  be  read 
u«restiotx      *^*^°  ^**  P™^*'  ^^  *^erefore  to  translate  at  the 
^^    the^*    ^  ^"**'®''  Lorenzo,  and  for  the  benefit  of 
tendencies    ^'  ^^   ^'^"^    ***    PeixBxc^'    And,  both 

V^tin  eclo^  ^^  ^  P°«"^  '^'>''^>  a  book  of 

i^to's  fam?^^  ^^  *  ''°^"™^  °*  ^*^^  ^y^^'  oi  Messer 
^lor  wa^^  nephew-the  Count  Matteo  Maria  Boiardo. 

lecttiresM.er?'"*'  ""^'Tt  ■  V""  "'"'^  °^  ^^59  public 
lecx        wer^  given  on  the  D»i««aCon,m«rfw,  the  commentary 

9  SeeTii^*  ct<.,pp.  129,  130. 

87 


DUKES   AND    POETS    IN   FERRARA 

but  appears  to  have  studied  under  Squarcione  at  Padua, 
where  he  was  probably  Mantegna's  fellow-pupil,  and  perhaps 
at  Venice.  Returning  to  his  native  city,  he  succeeded 
Angdo  da  Siena  as  chief  painter  to  the  Court  in  1458,  and 
was  continually  employed  by  the  Duke,  not  only  in  deco- 
rating his  palaces  with  frescoes  and  in  painting  portraits 
of  the  most  noteworthy  persons  of  his  circle,  but  also  in 
designing  tapestries,  triumphal  arches  and  the  other  in- 
dispensable accessories  of  Estensian  pomp  and  parade.  A 
powerful  and  accurate  draughtsman,  Tura  is  a  robust  and 
original  artist,  pecuUar  and  not  usually  attractive  in  his 
choice  of  types,  vigorous  in  his  execution,  with  angular  and 
strongly  marked  folds  of  drapery,  and  with  a  bright  scheme 
of  colouring,  which  is  singularly  individual,  if  frequently 
hard  and  crude ;  in  his  altar-pieces,  he  adorns  the  Madonna's 
throne  with  classical  decorations,  as  befits  a  pupil  of  the 
learned  Squarcione.  Francesco  del  Cossa  was  some  eight 
years  the  junior  of  Tura,  and  was  more  directly  influenced 
by  Pietro  dei  Franceschi ;  a  no  less  powerful,^ but  more 
refined  painter,  as  the  comparison  of  his  "  St.  Hyacinth  "  in 
the  National  Gallery  with  Tura's  "  St.  Jerome  "  and  "  Ma- 
donna "  in  the  same  collection  will  serve  to  show.  Borso, 
while  bounteous  to  Tura,  does  not  seem  to  have  appreciated 
Cossa  at  his  true  worth.  Finding  himself  inadequately 
remunerated,  Francesco  left  Ferrara  in  1470,^  and  removed 
to  Bologna,  where  the  Bentivoglio  proved  more  liberal  and 
discerning.  The  churches  and  picture-gallery  still  bear 
witness  to  his  stay  in  Bologna,  where  he  died  in  1480. 

1  His  letter  of  March  25,  1470,  to  Borso,  complaining  of  his 
deferred  payment  for  the  frescoes  in  Schif anoia,  and  that,  although 
he  has  painted  the  three  compartments  towards  the  ante-chaznber 
by  himself,  he  is  receiving  no  more  than  the  others,  was  published 
by  A.  Venturi  in  the  Kunstfreund  (Berlin,  1885,  coll.  130,  131). 

90 


THE   DUKE   OF   MODENA 

During    '*^^^  ^^*  **o  <"■  t^ee  years  of  Borso's  life,  a  third 

painter  a.I>I^^'^  "Poi^  tlie  scene  in  the  person  of  the  Duke's 

balf-brotlx^s^'Baldassared'Este,  sometimes  called  Baldassare 

of  Reggio*     *^°  ^^  worked  as  a  medallist.     Documentary 

evidence,      :r«centiy  brought  to  light,    has  proved  that  this 

hitherto   ix3.3^terious  personage  was  undoubtedly  the  son  of 

the  MarclB-^sse  Niccol6  III.i    He  appears  to  have  returned 

Ijom  Loixxtardy  to  Ferrara  about     the  year  1469.    The 

famotts  series  of  portraits  that  he  painted  for  Borso  and  his 

successoir     Irias  entirely  perished,  and  though  a  "  Piet4  "  in  a 

private  collection  at  Ferrara  is  doubtfully  ascribed  to  him, 

jt  is  uncertain  whether  we  have  any  authentic  work  preserved 

to  MS.  iroTxi  his  hand,  save  what  may  be  regarded  as  his 

^oog  the   frescoes  of  Schifanoia,  where,  at  Borso's  orders, 

j^e  repamted  no  fewer  than  thirty-six  heads  of  the  Duke, 

^lucb  were  originally  the  work  of  Francesco  del  Cossa.    It 

^*«ili   t^?"^  *'*  *^  '^^^'  ^^  one  of  the  causes  that 

^Vo?hi.  ;  ^"'^  P"^*"  *°  *^«  the  dust  of  Ferrara 

^oTrngMv         ^^^-^^— --tiaUyaCourtpainter; 

r^rious!Sr."r^"*^'  '"^'^  ^^--  Cosimo  Tura,  he  held 


various  small  offices  under  his 


"^^igning  brothers,  especially 


for  some  yea«  *u  *   *       x  •     ;  *s"""g  Drotners,  especiauy 
, .  ^  •>^^ars  that  of  captam  of  one  r^t  *u       *       x  d 

in  which  ca,v    *^*  the  gates  of  Reggio, 

in  v»         capacity  his  life  touched,  bv  «^  1         !i 

/  cvA,  oy  no  means  pleasantly, 

»  In  a  docn 
and  publus>,  t"*"*  o* '4891  «iiscovered  bv  0.«^i  T       %■..    ,,  , 

%S.,?>e^^rof    R^5o.^  present^  .,  the  Porta 

his    moiS'^S^stion!^  which  is  adopted  brS^J   ''°"'"'''    ^'^ 
position  at  ti.  ^^    ^^^^^    ^®*    Roberti.         —    ^^ 
— Beatrice     tf.  ^^UJ^  held  by  the  children 


,  „  (ii.  p.  42)»  'that 

'^t^e    utterly     difierent 

— f^^<^,   i^"^^^^:;  "i.:::  ""^r^""  ^"^  *^^  aristocratic  lady- 


I* 


91 


DUKES   AND   POETS   IN   FERRARA 

be  added — the  note  of  lubricity  is  not  altogether  absent,  a  note 
that  is  struck,  morecrudely  and  with  less  artistic  skill,  in  the 
whole  of  the  upper  part  of  the  fresco  for  September. 

Those  sections  only  have  survived  that  deal  with  the 
months  from  March  to  September.  The  first  three,  the 
best  executed  and  best  preserved,  appear  to  be  the  work 
of  Francesco  del  Cossa  :  "  I  am  Francesco  del  Cossa,"  he 
wrote  to  Borso,  "who  alone  have  done  those  three  com- 
partments towards  the  ante-chamber."  To  him  is  also 
ascribed  the  most  noteworthy  of  the  subsequent  scenes  from 
the  life  of  Borso.  The  rest  are  now  assigned  to  Tura  and 
his  assistants.^  Doubtless,  amongst  those  numerous  figures 
that  surroimd  and  accompany  Borso,  sharing  in  his  sports 
and  basking  in  his  smiles,  are  portraits  of  all  the  leading 
spirits  of  his  Court.  But  all  the  identifications  that  have 
been  suggested  are  little  else  than  more  or  less  happy  con- 
jectures, with  the,  perhaps  solitary,  exception  of  the  hand- 
some yoimg  man  with  a  falcon  on  his  wrist,  riding  on  the 
Duke's  right  in  the  month  of  March,  who  is  plausibly 
recognized  as  Teofilo  Calcagnino. 

Towards  the  end  of  the  series,  in  the  portions  not  ascribed 
to  Cossa,  we  begin  to  meet  a  new  figure,  younger  and  more 
sprightly  than  the  Duke,  clad  like  him  in  gold  brocade, 
leading  his  troops  and  evidently  drawing  not  a  Uttle  of  the 
popular  favour  and  the  courtly  homage  to  himself.  His 
features  in  the  present  state  of  the  frescoes  are  unrecog- 
nizable, but  it  is  hardly  stretching  a  point  to  see  in  him  the 
coming  man,  the  "  sole  hope  of  our  nation  " — the  "  most 
illustrious  Messere,  Ercole  d'Este." 

1  For  a  fuller  account  of  these  remarkable  frescoes  and  the  dis- 
cussion as  to  their  authorship,  see  Gruyer,  i.  pp.  423-468,  ii.  pp, 
575-596  ;  F.  Harck,  Gli  affreschi  del  palazzo  di  Schifanoia,  trans- 
lated by  Venturi  (Ferrara,  1886)  ;  and  Venturi,  op,  cit,  pp.  722—727; 

94 


Chapter   IV 

THE    TRIUMPH   OF    DUKE   BORSO 

T  ISr  the  latter  part  of  Borso's  splendid  and  peaceful  reign, 
M.       a    dax-lc  doud  b^an  to  loom   upon  the  horizon— the 
grim  possibility  of  a  disputed  succession  and  civil  war,  so 
^oon  as  the  genial  old  despot  should  be  in  his  grave. 

The  I>uls:e,who  was  childless,  at  first  treated  his  young 

neptew    Niccold  as  though  he  were    his  own  son.    The 

yoTithful   prince  who,  like  his  father,    had  studied  under 

(j^anno.  grew  up  beautiful  and  gallant,  as  weU  as  highly 

cratured       «  How  he  is  loved  by  his   vinde  Duke  Borso  !  " 

"'^^rThi^^*^'    ^'  ^"^^  ^"^^  definitdy  to  look 

SrSxeE^*'''^'^*°*^^*^°^^-       He  had  been  knighted 

S^vonaroS^^^'i?.  '^^''  ^^'  ^  *^^    years  later,  Midide 

tould  in^"*,'^'*'':  ^*^'  "°*    obscurdy,  that  Niccold 

principles  Of'  ^""  "^  opportunity  of  putting  these 

lime  there     ^       go^«^«"t  «»to  practice.*    At  the  same 

that  had  IZI  '  :f  ^^^^,^fl^«>tial  party  in  Ferrara 

lastly  to  ^''^  *T  7  ?',      "^  ^'^^"'  ^^  ^"°g  stead- 

^  Crona         "^  legitimate  issue  of  the  Marchese 

daughters'Si  IS!'''  •'''f  *"i  f  *^V    FUissetta  and  LioneUa  the 
tt^-rteeni-K  Borso  pictured  lor  us  by  Girolamn  rt^r^  *y"eiia,  xji^ 

^^*^^*«y  and  Mr.  Malice  Hewl^  ^  o,?f  °^**  ^"  **"* 
•Ac*"  "^'^'^y  »«  ^^^^  inventions.    ^  "*  ^''^  own  days,  are 

<^*">P.  40.  "****'  P- 431;    Segari2Zi^> 


95 


DUKES   AND    POETS   IN   FERRARA 

Niccold  III.  Borso,  who  was  a  conscientious  sovl///^^ 
probably  much  perplexed  in  his  mind,  how  to  recc/ X^a^^ 
the  promise  that  he  had  made  to  the  dying  Leonello  witn 
the  more  obvious  claims  of  Ercole  ;  it  is  even  said  that  his 
celibacy  was  prompted  by  a  desire  not  to  add  a  further 
compUcation  to  the  situation  in  the  shape  of  a  son  of  hi% 
own.  "  He  never  took  a  wife,"  writes  Pope  Pius  II,  "  with 
the  right  excellent  and  Christian  intention  of  leaving 
to  the  rightful  heirs  the  sovereignty,  which  he  had  occupied 
in  their  stead  whUe  they  were  children."  ^ 

Very  pleasant  reading  is  a  series  of  letters  written  in  the 
latter  part  of  September,  1462,  by  Niccold,  when  on  a  visit 
to  his  mother's  family,  to  Borso  at  Ferrara.  The  young 
prince  is  evidently  enjoying  himself  immensely,  but  he  is 
very  anxious  that  his  imcle  should  not  suppose  that  it  is  \ 

tliat   which   has   prevented   him   from   writing.    He    has  / 

just  received  at  Gonzaga  a  letter  from  Borso,  complaJning  I 

that  he  has  not  heard  from  him  since  he  left  Ferrara  ;    but  1 

he  assures  the  Duke  in  reply  that  the  slackness  of  the  mes-  j 

sengers  alone  is  to  be  blamed,  not  any  negligence  on  his 
part,  nor  forgetfulness,  "  because  of  the  good  time  that  I 
am  having  here."    He  admits  that  he  had  not  written  I 

subito  subitOy  because  he  wanted  first  to  have  some  taste  I 

of  the  sport  prepared  for  him — ^but,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  *. 

the  letter  had  been  sent  four  days  ago :  "  Let  not  your 
most  illustrious  Lordship  ever  believe  that  change  of  places,  i 

multipUcation  of  pleasures,  nor  any  imaginable  delight,  ( 

could  equal  the  satisfaction  that  I  should  have  in  seeing  your  ) 

most  excellent  Lordship  received  here,  as  your  Excellence  1 

will  learn  from  my  other  letter.    This  illustrious  lord  »  is  \ 

*  CommefUarii^')i.  p.  102.  I 

'  The  Marquis  of  Mantua,  Lodovico  Gonzaga.  j 

96 


xtr^jj  ^^^    TRIUMPH  OF  DUKE  BORSO 

J^e*-^    ^^  talks  of  nothing  else  but  the  Duke  of  Modena. 

t>ix£j^      ^y  are   gettii^  up  many  pleasures,  here  they  are 

^^'■^'thii       ^*"^  they  are  preparing  to  receive  your  Excellence 

fat  Oft  ^"*  ^^^  snaring  quails,    although  very  few 

be     to   r^^^  **~*  ^®  found ;  and  I  keep  in  good  health,  thanks 

exploi*  '   "       Then  comes  an  account  of  a    hawking 

in  the  s  h     ^'^^    previous  day.    And  more  pleasures  follow 

a  great  b  *^**^^^^*  letters ;  fowling  and  fishing  excursions, 

and  other?     *^*   ***  ^"^'  ^  ^^^   good  take  of  fine  pike 

and  March    ^^^   '    "*^^  ^^'^*^^  '  ^^^^^^s  from  the  Marquis 

with    a  gr^^^^*^^  '   *  P^S^ess  through  the  State,  ending  up 

young  prin^^*^^^     ceremonious  entrance    into  Mantua.    The 

young  for  h^  ^    ^'^^ho,  from  his  letters,  appears  to  be  singularly 

delighted  a.-t^    ^Lge— he  was  then  twenty-four)  is  unaffectedly 

sights  of    i^  "•^l^e  compliments  paid  him;  after  seeing  all  the 

^^t  is  to  "tfc   ^*^*"*   *°*^  waiting  over  a  great  fishing  party 

cenext  i^^       lield  in  his  honour,  he  will  return  to  his  Excel- 

,,,,^jijnijj^  **neanwhile  Ercole,  m  his  banishment  at  Naples, 
^f^^^dox^  ^^Iden  opinions  firom  aJl  by  his  gallant  presence, 
****  Sight  j^^^'^ays  and  his  feats  of  chivalry.  A  duel  which 
**^  fro,  f o**"  "**®  ^°^^  ^^^  ^*^  Galeazzo  Pandonio  da 
^^**^owea.^  "•^^e  love  of  a  fair  Neapolitan  lady,  and  in  which 
**^  *  d  a.  "tW  ^^®  utmost  magnanimity  in  victory,  long  fur- 
t^^^^  ^^^'^Xie  for  the  poets  and  novelists  of  Ferrara  ;  as 
**^  iottner  ^     courtesy  and  liberality  with  which  he  treated 

^^    ^fih  "&      *^^**  ^^®"  ^^  ^^^"'  ^  ***®'"  y^^'  passed 

^^^      ca     2^'^'"*  ^  ^  ^^^*     ^**®'"  *^®  '^^ath  of  King 

^^ot^'     -^x-cole    considered    himself     slighted     by     the 

*  ^^Itt^^*^*®  "*  Cappelli,  op.  dt.,  pp.  429-430. 
*     ^    c      ^catommiti,   vi.    1  ;   Boiardo,   Pastoralia 
76''*°  •  ^3«-<ai,  IstorU  Ferraresi,  p.  326.  ' 


vj.    82— S.4> 


97 


DUKES  AND   POETS   IN   FERRARA 
bastard  Ferrante  or  Ferdinando,  who  succeeded 


Neapolitan  throne,  and  in  whose  name  he  was  gov^''  ^— ^  ^^^ 


the   province    of  Capitanata.     When  Jean,  son  of 
d'Anjou,  renewed  the  Angevin  claims  upon  Naples,  ^ 
went  over  to  his  party,  and  took  the  field  against  his  ^^ 
friend  and  companion.     At  the    battle  of  Samo  i 
1460,  from  which  Ferrante  fled  to  Naples  with  only 
horsemen,  Ercole  is  said  to  have  personally  encoi 
the  King  face  to  face,  and  to  have  seized  and  retal^ 

portion  of  his  royal  mantle  as  a  trophy  in  the  att( 

make  him  his  prisoner.^    The  Angevin  trimnph,  hof^^ 
was  but  temporary ;   Ferrante  speedily  recovered  all   that 
he  had  lost,  and  the  Aragonese  dynasty  seemed  once   more 
firmly  estabhshed  upon  the  throne. 

At  the  end  of  1462  Borso  recalled  both  his  brothers  from 
the  Regno  to  Ferrara.    To  Ercole  he  assigned  the  govern- 
ment of  the  duchy  of  Modena ;  to  Sigismondo  that  of  Reggio  ; 
while  he  kept  the  nephew  Niccold  by  his  own  side  a.t  Fer- 
rara, as  chief  of  his  privy  council.    This  move  of  the  I>uke*s 
excited   considerable    satisfaction,    especially    among      the 
Modenese  and  Reggians,  who  found  themselves  thus    pro-  * 

vided  with  two  small  Courts  of  their  own.    Franoesco    di 
Princivalle  Ariosti,  who  was  an  ardent  partisan  of    Ercole,  1 

sent  Borso  a  Latin  elegy  complimenting  him  on  this  ^wise  *i 

division  of  his  sovereignty,  and  followed  it  up  with  a  letter- 
in  the  same  language,  expressing  the  great  gratitude    of 
Modena  and  Reggio,  extolling  the  decision  taken    l>y    the 
Duke  as  something  quite  divine,  "having  foUoA^eci    that 
weighty  and  most   praiseworthy  counsel  of   Jetlxro^    th.e 
father-in-law  of  Moses." 

*  Frizzi,  iv.  p.  33  ;  Boiardo,  Pastoralia,  iv.  72-75,    ac.     Si 
Ariosto  appears  to  refer  to  this  combat,  Orlando  Furioso^  iii.  4*  ^ 

98 


THE  TRIUMPH  OF  DUKE    BORSO 

*  Ojj  ^''s  answer  is  characteristically  child-like  and  bland. 

3^0ti    ■    ^*^*    well-beloved.    We  have  received  a  letter  from 

*o    ^^^^     iatin,  most  worthy,  el^ant  and  moral ;  giving  us 

***Os^      ««sta_n<i  what  great  joy  and  gladness  it  has  been  to 

*=>ti«-    ij^"^  clxacliies,  great  and  small,  that  we  have  sent  them 

***^nics^*^"*^**®  brothers  to  govern  them,  and  what  great 

iiito     j^"*^^    t>een  given  us  by  all  the  people  ;  and  bringing 

fitti^gj^***      memorable  example  of  Jethro,  which  very 

^^^   shaji  '"*^^^^*^  enters  into  the  matter.      And  about  that 

the    -Vfrhol^^    nothing  further,  save  that,   as  you  have  done 

full    of  chaxi*     ^  ^*^  ^°^^  ^^  ^*^  right  worthy  reasons, 

you  very  vesr^^    ^^^  °*  ^^^  ^^^  affection,  we  conunend 

tions."  »    Cl^^  ^^"**  *°'"  y°^  writing  and  for  your  si^ges- 

to  commit   lii^jT*^  ^  T>}icai  Excellence    was  not  prepared 

It  was  an  vT^^^*' 

tjie   two  clai^-^^^^^ual  struggle  for  the  next  few  years  between 

pleasure  thaj:^^  -,.  ^^ts.     While  Niccold  was   more  addicted  to 

grasps  eve:^;^'^  increasing  his  influence  and  following,  Ercole 

^ccoxe-    He  ^^  ^Opportunity  to  make  his  own  position  more 

to  Bor®*''  ^^'^      ^trived  at  once  to  make  himself  indispensable 

Kep^^^*^"~~^K^  ^  win  the  complete  confidence  of  the  Venetian 

Visdoitxi^"*:     formidable  neighbour  who.  by  means  of 

^^ed  in  l^^^»  *  k^d  of  exalted  consul  whom  she  main- 

adSM^i^-t^^^a  to  protect  her  commercial  interests  and 

l,ee9  *^  "^1:01^    ^"^^'"^  *°  ^^'  ^""^^^^  *^^'"«'  contrived  to 
\^a  ^^^  >^r*^^santly  close  touch  with  Ferrarese  matters. 
^e  Votesvt^^    probably  aheady  casting  envious  eyes  upon 
/a^oxi^   of  Rovigo. 

^  Y^Yftisv^    ^"'^  "^^  ^'^"^^y  ^°*  "P^'^  preserving  and 
43^-    ^«^^  ^  Carducci,  DeUe  Poesie  Latins  di  Lodovieo  a.-    4^ 

\,oavB.        *^  reference  is,  of  course,  to  the  eighteenth  clipjjof 


99 


'^  r  d    If'  ••s»'/m. 


DUKES   AND    POETS   IN   FERRARA 

enjo5dng  peace,  he  did  not  maintain  an  absolute  neutrality 
in  the  politics  of  Italy.  The  accession  of  the  Sforza  to  the 
throne  of  MUan,  and  their  alliance  with  the  Medici,  had 
caused  a  new  grouping  among  the  great  powers  of  the 
peninsula  ;  Milan,  Florence  and  Naples  now  formed  a  triple 
alliance,  which  was  to  some  extent  counterbalanced  by 
the  rapprochement  between  Rome  and  Venice.  Borso 
had  much  to  hope  and  something  to  fear  from  the  two 
latter  powers,  and  his  sympathies  were  all  against  the  triple 
alliance.  His  relations  with  Naples  and  its  new  sovereign 
were  no  longer  what  they  had  been  in  the  days  of  the  mighty 
Alfonso. .  Nor  was  there  much  love  lost  between  the  House 
of  Este  and  these  comparatively  upstart  Medicean  rulers 
of  Florence.  Borso  was  deeply  impUcated  in  the  con- 
spiracy of  the  Party  of  the  Mountain,  the  adherents  of  the 
Pitti  and  the  Neroni,  against  the  state — perhaps  even  the 
life — of  Piero  de'  Medici  in  1466.  He  dispatched  a  strong 
force  of  horse  and  foot  under  Ercole  to  Fontalba,  to  threaten 
the  Tuscan  frontier  and  support  the  conspirators.  When 
the  plot  failed,  he  received  Diotisalvi  Neroni  and  Gio- 
vanni Francesco  Strozzi  in  Ferrara,  and  used  all  his  influence 
with  the  Doge  of  Venice,  Cristoforo  Moro,  to  have  the 
skilful  old  condottiere,  Bartolommeo  Colleoni,  put  at  the 
service  of  the  exiles.  To  win  the  Doge  over  to  his  views, 
Borso  went  incognito  to  Venice  in  April,  1467,  and,  in  jovial 
wise,  paid  him  a  surprise  visit,  whUe  the  Serenissimo  was 
under  the  hands  of  his  barber. 

War  broke  out  before  the  end  of  the  spring.  The  Venetian 
object  was  to  crush  the  Medici,  who  wer6  the  binding  link 
in  the  League  of  Milan  and  Naples,  that  counterbalanced 
their  power  in  Italy ;  Borso  and  Ercole  chiefly  desired  to 
ingratiate  themselves  with  the  Pope,  by  supporting  his 

100 


■Jm 


? 


XHE   TRIUMPH   OF  DUKE    BORSO  \. 

j-»     *^»  and     thereby  to  win  the  coveted  ducal  crown  of  !  , 

J  ^*"*"a*a.      3artolonimeo    CoUeoni,    leading    the    Venetian  '■'■ 

^^^^  ^^^s  in  ijis  own  name  and  not  ostensibly  making  war  as 
^^pta.in.greneral  of  the  Republic,  Ercole  d'  Este  with  Fer- 
j^     *®«  horse  and  foot,  together  with  the  petty  tyrants  of  '' 

j.^^^*"o.  Forli  and  Faenza,  and  a  number  of  other  second- 
condottieri,  advanced  into  the    Romagna,  proposing 
^^  assafl  Florence  by  way  of  Faoiza,    the  Val  di  Lamone 
the  Mugello.    Against  them  were   tlie  united  forces  of 
e  I>uke  of   Milan  and  King  Ferrante,   -who  were  strength- 
by  the  alliance  of  Giovanni  Bentivoglio  and  Taddeo 
manci    f  r°*    Imola,  the  whole  army  being  under  the  com- 
not   yet  dT'^^*  Federigo  da  Montefeltro  of  Urbino  (who  was 
generals  of  ^^^-    ^®  *^°  ^^^^^  ^**  best  of  the  mercenary 
war  Was  a         ^^^  ^^'^^  ^^  opposed  to  each  other,  but  the 
of  the  cazni^^-^  ""^^  ^^  ^^^  affair.       The  chief  action 
in  the  plai,f*^*^  ^^  ^^"g'^*  **  ^  MuUnella,  near  Budrio, 
This  is  th^t     *^«tween  Bologna  and  Imola.,  on  July  25,  1467. 

r^jular  battj^  ^^**^^®'"®°*  ^  ^®"^^  "'y'  Machiavelli:  "A  - 
parties  givi,^'  ^^**  ^*^  ^^*  *  ^y*  without  either  of  the 
kiUed  ther^^%  **y-  Nevertheless,  not  a  single  man  was 
certain  pri^  *  only  there  were  a  few  horses  wounded,  and 
fact,  ther^  ^:»iers  taken  on  either  side."  x  ^s  a  matter  of 
and  theotw^^^®  ^^^^  hundred  men  killed  on  one  side 
and  woul^'^T.  Bartolommeo  Colleoni  was  forced  to  retire, 
valour  oi:fc.  ^ave  suffered  a  complete  defeat  but  for  the 
Venetiatv  r*^'c°le  ^*^°'  ^*  ^«  ^^^  <>*  *^«  cavalry,  stayed  the 

borses  k5?^*'  ^t  ''T'*^  ^^'  '"''"^^  ^'"°^«  ^^d  tv^o 
.  ♦  anri^^<i  ^**®''  *^'  ^^  severely  wounded  in  th*- 
loot,     vq.    >VAralked  lame  for  the  rest  of  his  life.»     Peace 

^*»is   "  CoUeonic  War."  cf .  Armstrong,  Lorengo  de'  MeMa*^ 


DUKES   AND    POETS    IN    FERRARA 

proclaimed  in  April,  1468,  mainly  through  Borso's  diplomacy, 
and  Ercole,  visiting  Venice,  had  an  enthusiastic  reception, 
and  probably  a  promise  of  future  support  in  his  claim  to  the 
Ferrarese  crown. 

Ariosto,  in  that  scene  of  the  Orlando  Furioso,  where 
Bradamante,  the  mythical  ancestress  of  the  House  of  Este, 
sees  the  long  line  of  spirits  issue  from  the  cave  of  Merlin 
and  present  the  forms  of  her  descendants,  refers  to  Ercole's 
heroism  and  the  subsequent  ingratitude  of  the  Venetians  : — 

Ercole  or  vien,  ch'al  suo  vicin  rinfaccia. 
Col  pid  mezzo  arso  e  con  quel  debol  passi, 
Come  a  Budrio  col  petto  e  coUa  faccia 
II  campo  volto  in  fuga  gli  fermassi ; 
Non  perchd  in  premio  poi  guerra  gli  faccia, 
Nd,  per  cacciarlo,  fin  nel  Barco  passi. 
Questo  6  il  Signor,  di  cui  non  so  esplicarme 
Se  fia  maggior  la  gloria  o  in  pace  o  in  arme.^ 

At  the  beginning  of  1469,  the  Emperor  Frederick  III  was 
again  in  Ferrara  for  a  few  days,  on  his  return  to  Germany  from 
Rome,  pouring  out  a  profusion  of  diplomas,  creating  counts, 
knights,  poets-laureate  and  doctors,  literally  by  the  score. 
It  was  a  highly  profitable  business  concern,  and  the  ankounts 
that  he  got  back  in  fees  quite  refunded  his  royal  and  imperial 
Majesty  for  the  costs  of  his  journey.  The  Ferrarese  grumbled 
sorely  at  the  exorbitant  sums  of  money  demanded  in  pay- 
ment for  these  luxuries  by  the  imperial  chancellor,  declaring 

pp.  57-71  ;  Capponi,  Storia  della  Repubhlica  di  Firenze,  v.  cap.  4  ; 
Romanin,  iii.  pp.  326-332 ;  Frizzi,  iv.  pp.  61,  62. 

^  "  Now  Cometh  Ercole,  who  casts  in  his  neighbour's  face,  with 
his  half-burnt  foot  and  with  those  feeble  paces,  how  at  Budrio 
with  breast  and  countenance  he  stayed  for  him  his  army  turned  in 
flight ;  not  that  in  reward  he  should  then  make  war  upon  him,  nor 
invade  even  the  Barco  to  hunt  him  down.  This  is  that  Lord,  of 
whom  I  cannot  express  if  his  glory  shall  be  greater  in  peace  or  in 
arms."  (iii.  46). 

102 


THE  TRIUMPH  OF  DUKE   BORSO 


tli. 


^^^  **he  wanted  to  skin  the  whole  lot  ";  and,  as  a  matter 

^*^   fact,  the  Emperor  hurried  away  with  a  number  of  these 

2!f^^y  created  dignitaries  in  full  cry  after  him  to  Venice. 

^^^J^   had  paid  down  their  money,  but  got  no  diplomas 

^     niake  good  their  dearly  bought  titles.    Among  those 

"^^  decorated  were  three  brothers  of  the  Ariosti,  to  whom 

^f'^    to  their  descendants  the  title  of   count  was  given  ; 

jj^^cesco    di   Rinaldo  Ariosti,  seneschal    to   the    Duke; 

^^^^ovico,    an   ecclesiastic,  who  afterwards  became  arch- 

^^^^*  of  the  Duomo ;  and  a  third  younger  brother,  Niccold 

^^osti,  who   was  destined  to  be  the  father  of  the  great 

^ .      -       Presumably,  their  titles  were  fully  confirmed  ;  but 

^^old's  sons  do  not  appear  to  have  been  styled  count. 

^jj      *^  same  year  was  marked  by  the  darkest,  almost  the 

was^  ^h^^^^  ^vent  of  Borso's  reign.    The  lordship  of  Carpi 

+1^^  *^y   Giovanni  Lodovico  Pio  and  his  brothers, 

*^"^  sons  of  r^^i 

mate  da    ,  ^^^^^  ^^^  ^^  Margherita  d'Este  (an  illegiti- 

Borso  anrfK*  ^^   ^^  Niccold  III),  who  were  thus  nephews  to 
Pio   ^th  ^^^le;  and  by  their  cousins,  Leonello  di  Alberto 

LeooeUo  d'  T5-   ^^*  ^^*  Alberto  Pio,  whom  we  have  met  in 
The  sons  of^*^'^  literary  circle)  and  Marco  di  Giberto  Pio. 
iniured   bv    »C^^^^^^  ^^  ^^  ^^  ^^ve  imagined  themselves 
^^Tso  in  the  matter  of  a  projected  marriage 
1      tto  P'        ^^^  ^^^  sisters  and  the  Lord  of  Mirandola, 
Kiso      ^^*     *^  whom,  as  we  have  seen,  the  Duke  had 
^^    .      .  ^  ^::^alf-sister,  Bianca  Maria,  in  the  previous  yea.r. 

Instiga       P^^^^^ibly  by  Piero  de'  Medici,  who  was  desirous 
^*    ^^  +•  ^     ^tlimself  upon  Borso  for  his  support  of   the 
"Floreti        tr<c>^^citiy  and  with  some  sort  of  understandirag 
vntto.  ^^     ^H:^  of  Milan,  Giovanni  Lodovico — "  non  pio  sed 
xnapio,       y^    Carlo  da  San  Giorgio,  who  paints  him   as    a 
^  Diario  Ferrarese,  coll.  217,  2i 8. 
103 


\ 


DUKES    AND    POETS    IN    FERRARA 

monster  of  iniquity — and,  perhaps,  his  brothers  entered  into 
a  mysterious  conspiracy  against  Borso.  According  to 
the  ofi&cial  Ferrarese  version  of  the  afiEair,  they  intended  to 
murder  the  Duke ;  but  it  seems  more  probable  that  the 
idea  was  to  dethrone  h^m  and  to  bind  Ercole,  his  successor 
according  to  the  plan,  to  the  party  of  the  triple  alliance. 
The  King  of  Naples  was  more  or  less  privy  to  their  design. 
Giovanni  Lodovico  himself  appears  to  have  been  the  con- 
necting link  with  Florence,  while  his  sister  Marsibilia,  the 
wife  of  Taddeo  Manfredi  of  Imola,  by  means  of  a  certain 
Andrea  da  Varegnana  of  Faenza,  secured  the  co-opera- 
tion of  the  Duke  of  Milan. 

When  the  preparations  had  been  made,  Giovanni  Lodo- 
vico sought  an  interview  with  Ercole  at  Modena,  and  made 
him  the  most  magnificent  promises  on  the  part  of  the  allied 
powers.    In  addition  to  the  lordship  of  the  three  duchies, 
he  was  to  have  Ravenna,  Forli  and  Faenza,  as  also  the 
baton  of  command  (with  an  annual  provision  of  50,000 
ducats)  of  the  new  League  which  the  triple  alliance  was 
preparing  to  succour  Roberto  Malatesta,  the  bastard  of  the 
notorious  Sigismondo    Malatesta,   who  had   died   in   the 
previous  year,  and  whose  lordship  of  Rimini  was  now  being 
claimed  by  Pope  Paul  II  as  a  vacant  fief  of  the  Church. 
Ercole  pretended  to  assent,  in  order  to  get  aU  the  evidence 
of  the  plot  into  his  hands,  but  revealed  the  whole  thing  to 
Borso  as  they  rode  together  on  a  hunting  expedition.    On 
July  17,  Giovanni  Lodovico  came  again  to  Ercole,  as  had 
been   arranged,   accompanied   by  Andrea   da   Varegnana 
and  an  agent  of  the  Duke  of  Milan,  bringing  their  credentials 
and  the  clauses  of  the  treaty  as  he  had  demanded — only 
to  find  themselves  taken  in  a  trap,  and  arrested  as  they 
walked  with  him  in  the  garden  of  the  castle.     The  Milanese 

104 


THE  TRIUMPH  OF   DUKE   BORSO 

^Srent  ^as   released,  but  the  other    two  unfortunate  men 

'**'^''e    brought  to  Ferrara  by  Ercole  himself,  bound  and 

r"^*^*^de<i  with  troops,  with  their    faces  hidden,  and  the 

^^f"s   of  the  CasteUo  ringing,  "  as  a  sign  of  a  rich  booty." 

*»e  other   brothers  were  arrested  in  Carpi  by  the  soldiery 

of  GaJeotto  della  Mirandola ;  the  eldest,  Giovanni  Marco,  was 

broug^it  to  Fenara  to  share  Giovanni  Lodovico's  fate,  the 

others  imprisoned  elsewhere. 

Giovanni  Xodovico  Ko  and  Andrea  da  Varegnana  were 
publicly  beheaded  in  the  piazza  of  Fetraiu  on  August  12  ; 
Gxovanni  Marco  suffered  the  same  doom,  but  secretly  and 
at  night  xn  the  CasteUo,  on  September  15.  The  other 
l,rotheis.GxaiiMarsilio,GianPrincivaUe,  Manfredo.  Bernar- 
dino   and  Tommaso.  were  finally  brought  to  Ferrara  and 

'^*'^TL""';'^°'^^*^'^*^°Vecchio;inspiteof  their 
^;*^  weTf  f^J'""  ^"'^'^  ^^  protestations  of  imiocence. 
^%  bSv^!  trial  and  even  an  axxdience  of  theDuke. 
^10^-  ti"^^*^  "'**'"  "^^y  ^<i  -en  known  of  the 
^b'in  Box^.^  "'^'  L-'^^o  arxcl   Marco,  who  were 

Sfb3vethe^' ^T'  T!  P^^*^'**   in  their  resolution 

to**  *^olefief;  and  there  werp^  ^+». 

v^ho  expected  .„  ,    . '  ^^  ^^^^  «*ther  greedy  courtiers 

:^eir  lor<fe^^J°j«nve  some  advantage  from  their  disgrace. 

iarco,  aod  II  f  Carpi  was  made  over  to  LeoneUo  and 

««  R         ^^^  possessions  m  Ferraj^  ,•*„  «  j-  • ,  , 

among  Borso»s  favourites.'  ^^^    ^'  ""^^^  ^"^^^ 

t   A.    Capp  , 

Sy  Carlo  ^  s^^A-'^'  ^-  ^^-    '^^  *«^i  otZ  ^*  ^•^'"'«' 
Sowrt  vera^-,^*"  Giorgio,  edited  by  Cappelli    fa  „,^f     *^^**>'»  " 

tt^^es^^'^t  »tory  is  told  by  Giral^  to  tt?^^  Prejudice. 

?:*repr,s^5-^n  o,  Pierode' Medici  nofcTf  STS:?^)- 

oi  Naples  ^^he^w^eas^^a^tontb^p  KS^JeSS; 

in  the  victory 


DUKES   AND   POETS   IN   FERRARA 

Borso  had  sent  an  account  of  the  whole  affair  to  the 
Pope,  probably  representing  himself  as  threatened  in  this 
way  because  of  his  fidelity  to  the  interests  of  the  Church. 
Paul  wrote  back,  uiging  the  Duke  to  look  to  it  that  the 
innocent  wife  and  children  of  Giovanni  Lodovico  should  not 
suffer  in  goods  or  in  person  for  Lodovico's  crime.*  Other- 
wise, the  Pope  and  Cardinals  applauded  Borso's  wisdom  and 
prudence  in  the  matter.  But,  at  the  Court  of  Naples,  it 
was  openly  said  that  a  great  injustice  was  being  done,  and 
that  Giovanni  Lodovico  had  never  plotted  against  Borso's 
state  nor  his  person,  nor  in  favour  of  Ercole,  but  simply 
desired,  in  understanding  with  the  Medici,  to  drive  out  his 
cousins  and  adhere  with  Carpi  to  the  League.^  Jacopo 
Trotti,  the  Ferrarese  orator  at  Rome,  exhorted  his  master 
to  beware  of  Florentine  poison  :  "  I  implore  your  Lordship 
most  devoutly,  for  God*s  sake,  to  guard  your  person  more 
than  you  are  wont,  even  from  poisons,  because  the  Floren- 
tines are  more  expert  in  them  than  any  other  folk  that  Uve. 
Take  care  that  attention  is  paid  even  to  your  saddles  and 
stirrups." ' 

of  the  Angevins  at  Samo.  After  an  ineffectual  attempt  to  com- 
promise Ercole  with  Borso,  Ferrante  corrupted  "  certain  young 
men  in  the  territory  of  Modena,  who  were  full  of  daring  and  had 
been  with  Ercole  in  Naples/'  to  slay  both  Borso  and  Ercole  together, 
when  the  latter  should  have  given  Borso  into  their  hands.  Borso 
magnanimously  pardons  the  conspirators,  reconciles  them  with 
Ercole,  and  converts  the  King  of  Naples  himself. 

^  Cappelli,  op.  cit,,  document  iii. 

*  Cappelli,  op.  cit.,  document  vi. 

3  Cappelli,  op.  cit.,  document  iv.  Trotti  himself  had  an  eye 
to  the  main  chance  in  the  ruin  of  the  Pio.  As  a  broad  hint  he 
writes  to  Borso  that  he  had  told  the  Pope  about  the  probable  con- 
fiscation of  their  possessions,  and  added  that,  if  he  were  near  his 
Excellence,  he  too  would  try  to  get  something ;  "  lo  etiam  operaria 
li  miei  ferazoli  per  haverne  la  parte  mia  "  ;  and  that  his  Holiness 
had  promised  that  he  would  take  care  that  his  being  at  Rome 

1 06 


THE  TRIUMPH  OF  DUKE     BORSO 

Such  beiimg  the  mutual  rektions  of  Piero  de'  Medici  and 

Borso  d  Este,  there  is  somewhat  remarkable  reading  in  the 

cons^toiy     letter  that  the  latter  addressed  to  Lorenzo 

tJ^:\:^::  "^^  °^  ^^-'^   ^-th.  this  san^e 

the  ^t'^-Jr  If^"^'  "^  '°'  "^  *«  --P'^  -til  letters 

.  iS^L^    '^^  ^^*  ^^^'^  ^d  sorrow  of  soul  that 
we  have  conceived  bvthpr^AofK    ^4.u 

renewed  Piero.  yl  fa't  *  ^^"^^^ * '"^  ™"* 
united  continual^yTsin^,',  fo^.  seemg  that  we  were 
friendshio  wifhT^  ?  ^^  ^°''*'  benevolence  and  close 
^"^dfa^ef"  ^T'"^'  "^"^  *^«  magnificent  Cosimo, 
Zl<iT^^l^.-^f  ti^e  House  of  Medici,  which 

from  our  „,ost  il^us  7""'  ""^  ^"^"'""^  ^^^^^ 
served,  and  is  pr^^'"' ij^:^^^-'  ^^    has  been  pre- 

not  only  th^^I^i?, ''""  ^'^  "''  **""^  — -^)' 
with  your  WoitaT^:?  ^'  ^'^  ^°"'  ^°  ^«  ^hare 
exceUent  a  father  wt^^K^  "^^  '°^  °^  ^  ^^^^y  -^ 
and  admirable  virt'urc^  "f  '  "^'^^ous  inteUect 

^  f-  our  own  ^"  "f"^^  "^"^^  ^  ^--^er  life  ;  but 
thatwehavesuffeS,!^,r': ''".''•  '*  seer^ing  to  us 
«-d.  as  was  your  fa^nir  .  '  *"""  ^^  «- e^-t 
hi„,....  '''^^'^  *°  "^' ^d  as  we  were  equally  to 

Such,  however,  wa«5  tK»  j-  i 
It^  prince  beleri^w^^''™^"^  °*   *^«    a^e.    Each 

outwaid  apnea,?'       ^  *"  opportunity  offer  itself      k^ 
,h«.H      ^^^^"*^^  of  amity  were  kept  up  and  *k        ^^^« 
should  not  make  w     .  f     F.  and  they  wrnt«> 

/'«»'«oiw  gratis^Z^^^  '"th  Trotti's  diplomacy    th«    ^:      ^rso 
^^^^r^y^T"^^  the  Pope,  who  a  few  mlnth^''^^  ^^  ^ 
P'^**nt  voluiite  !,       '^  °°  ^'^  ^^'^^  (<=*•  Appendix   r?^  ^ote 
'  Publbhed   i„'^o::~'»«»t  '•)•  "•     *«>     the 

"*»«««»«  Parmews.-.  series  i.,  vol.  3,  p.  3J7*"^*«     /i«.»    ;^ 
107 


DUKES   AND   POETS    IN    FERRARA 

to  each  other  in  terms  not  merely  of  courtly  politeness,  but 
of  almost  fraternal  affection.  But,  perhaps  alone  among 
the  sovereigns  of  his  day,  Borso  was  probably  happier  in 
doing  such  things  graciously  than  in  meeting  plots  and 
treason  by  counterplots  and  tyranny. 

In  the  meanwhile  Ercole  had  taken  the  field  again.  In 
the  August  of  this  year,  1469,  he  led  a  Venetian  force  to 
succour  the  papal  army  under  Alessandro  Sforza,  which 
Roberto  Malatesta  had  hurled  back  discomfited  from  the 
walls  of  Rimini.  His  intervention  had  the  efi[ect  ivhich 
Borso  and  he  intended,  of  increasing  still  further  the  debt 
of  gratitude  which  the  Pope  owed  to  the  House  of  Este. 

The  whole  Ferrarese  game  was  now,  by  1470,  in  Ercole's 
hands.  Borso  had  completely  turned  against  Niccold, 
who,  according  to  the  partisans  of  Ercole,  had  abandoned 
himself  to  a  vicious  life  and  proved  himself  incapable  of 
governing ;  he  kept  him  so  short  of  money  that  the  unfor- 
tunate prince  had  to  borrow  a  few  florins  to  pay  the  musi- 
cians of  the  Marquis  of  Mantua  and  of  the  Duke  of  Bur- 
gundy, who  had  played  before  him,  and  finally  deprived 
him  of  his  place  of  head  of  the  privy  council,  installiog  £rcole 
in  his  stead.^  Nevertheless,  Niccold  still  had  partisans  in 
Ferrara  itself,  and  was  keeping  in  touch  with  the  Gonzaga 
at  Mantua. 

The  old  Duke  was  fast  breaking  up  ;  but,  before  his  death, 
he  was  to  see  his  dearest  hope  fulfilled.  He  fdt  that  lie  had 
done  the  Church  some  service,  and  was  probably  iasistent 
with  the  Pope  that  this  should  receive  the  recognition  he 
desired.*    As  the  Easter  of  1471  approached,  Paul   II — 

^  Cappelli,  Niccold  di  Leonello  d*  Este,  pp.  416,  417I;  JDiario 
Ferrarese,  col.  226. 

«  "  The  bearer  of  these  presents,  thy  orator,  hath  set  forth  certain 
things  to  us  faithfully  in  the  name  of  thy  Nobility,  and  all>eit  thy 

108 


^  THE  TRIUMPH  OF    DUKE   BORSO 

tlj^^^eign  pontiff  after  Boreo's  own  heart,  one  who  loved 

ct^^^Wendid  appearances  of  things,  gorgeous  ceremonies, 

^U^i^J*^ pageants,  the  gleaming  of  jewels  and  rich  brocades^ 

X^^j^oneci  tiiin  to  Rome,  for  the  purpose  of  creating  him 

i^Ui^^  ^^  X^exrara,  as  the  Emperor  had  akeady  made  him 

-^ft        ^**^^xlena  and  R^gio. 

^1>  iti  tt^    solemn  Mass  of  the  Holy  Spirit  had  been  offered 

<^eint:  t^^   ^'^^omo  of  Fenara,  Borso  set  out  with  a  magmfi- 

^^orfcdo^^*    i^SLving  the  charge  of  his  states  to  Ercole,  Sigis- 

^xid  to  aI^^    I^aldo,  his  brothers,  to    Niccold  his  nephew, 

r-ode  two^*^^*^  Sandeo,  the  Judge  of  the  Sages.    With  him 

^^Tarco   Pi^*    *^s  brothers,  Guron  Maria  and  Alberto  d'  Este  ; 

^^Ml^  lOir^^    ^ow  as  Lord  of  Carpi,     Count  Galeotto  Pico 

"tli^  nolj/^^^la,  the  young  Count    Niccold  da  Correggio ; 

^^<i  somes  :§^^^^^t,  Count  Matteo  Maria  Boiardo  of  Scandiano ; 

attire.     i>j^  ^^  hundred  other  gentlemen  in  sumptuous  gala 

sbone  in  l>:i^^^^  valets  wore  doth   of     gold ;    their  grooms 

±lxesm,  witl^      "^^deofsUver.    Trumpeters   and  pipers  followed 

every  kiti^        huntsmen  leading  packs  of   splendid  hounds  of 

goshainrjc^  ^^^^^X)r  the  chase;  falconers  with  falcons,  girifakhi, 

of  orient^^   ^^^  ^^^'  "  ^^^  ^^^  ^  ^^y^  thing  " ;   and  a  band 

^^^^^^  ^*  ^^=5^eepers,  dressed  in  doublets  of  brocade,  were  in 

a    tbxfig   ^;^^^^^  number  of  "  tamed  and  most  swift  leopards, 

^^^otion  ^  ^eedingly  wondrous."  ^    A  long  train  of  mules, 

^^erthei^^^C::^^^^ards  the  Holy  Apostolic  See  and  the  Roman  Church 

i-t    '^'^^^  ^^^"^^^  J^^th  been  for  a  long  time  not  unknown  to  us,  it  was, 

.j^j^c-     ^t^"V/^  ^  most  grateful  to  us  to  have  understood  from  him  that 

l^e    ^^    Vw^  merely  ijreserved  but  was  even   waxing  greater  with 

T  a7^'    4t^r^:^  ^ow  retumeth   with   our  answer  to  those  things  that 

^^x  /'''an^^^^X:>re    us."        (Brief  of    Paul   II    to    Borso,   December, 

^/i#5<m«i^«rV^tfi^    Vaticano,  xxxix.  12,  f.  115) 

i//«*5/nW^*^^^,-  AriosH  Peregrini  lurisconstdH,  De  fortunati  felidsque 
^^     ^        Ducts    Borsii   in   Urhem  Rotnam  ingressus    l>ieta    <^ 
tm  et  magnanimum  divum  Herculem  Marchionem  ^^tj^e/f^ 
109 


DUKES   AND    POETS    IN    FERRARA 

embraced  him,  not  otherwise  than  if  he  had  been  the  father         * 
of  that  most  sapient  senate  of  Venice."    All  the  way  between         \ 
the  Ponte  and  the  Porta  del  Popolo  was  lined  with  people, 
and  the  crowd  was  so  great  that  it  grew  difficult  to  make 
any  progress.    Dignitary  after  dignitary  appeared,  to  greet 
Borso  as  he  slowly  rode  onwards,  and  to  join  in  his  triimiph : 
Costanzo  Sforza,  the  commander  of  the  papal  troops  ;  the 
ambassadors  of  all  the  foreign  powers  ;  the  Roman  Senator 
in  gold  brocade,  "  as  though  to  a  triumphal  Emperor  of  old,"         j 
with  a  hundred  "  consular  patricians  "  ;    the  households         i 
of  the  Cardinals  and  of  Pope  Paul  himself.     By  this  time,         v 
there  were  some  eight  thousand  persons  following  the  ducal 
pageant ;    but  Messer  Francesco  remarks  with  delighted 
wonder  that,  in  spite  of  all  the  vast  number  of  illustrious 
personages,  "  not  even  one  in  the  least  intruded  or  was 
merged  into  the  right  goodly  order  of  our  most  beauteous 
procession,  as  though  it  would  have  been  a  sacrilege  to 
interrupt  with  diverse  persons  so  admirable  a  company 
of  the  splendour  of  princes,  the  preserver  of  peace,  our 
divine  Prince."  ^ 

At  the  Porta  del  Popolo  seventeen  cardinals  were  waiting, 
headed  by  the  Cardinal  Battista  Zeno,  nephew  to  the  Pope, 
and  the  Cardinal  of  Mantua,  Francesco  Gonzaga.  At  the 
sight  of  these  princes  of  the  Church,  all  the  tnunpeters  and 
musicians  of  the  ducal  train  sounded  a  blast  of  exultant 
music.  Scattering  silver  on  all  sides,  Borso  rode  through 
the  streets  of  the  Eternal  City,  flowers  showering  down 
upon  him  from  windows,  platforms,  balconies  and  roofe, 
all,  high  and  low,  welcoming  the  Duke  "  as  father,  as  most 
worthy  prince ;     nay,    as    their    own    most    worshipful 

*  De  fortuncUi  felicisque  illustrissimi  Ducts  Borsii  ingressus  Dieta, 
ff- 39-41. 

112 


\ 


-i-^ 

N.       ^ 


<: 


^ 
S 


1) 


THE  TRIUMPH  OF  DUKE  BORSO 
Emperor."  The  streets  were  lined  with  freshly  planted 
trees,  and  across  them,  amid  festoons  of  flowers  and  greenery, 
hung  medallions  with  the  Papal  arms  on  one  side  and  those 
of  E^te  «n  the  other,  showing  now  one.  now  the  other, 
as  they  turned  r^mid  in  the  wind.  The  fountains  ran 
witnwme  ;  everywhere  were  triumphal  arches  and  music. 
It  was  said  publicly  by  all  the  Romans  that  never  did 
^hnnf '°^''  '"*''■  ^*°  ^«>°»«  ^ti»  snoh  great  triumph 

^l^^rj  *^''"'^'"  A*  «^«  d— -  of  the  Sacr^ 
Pato«  the  two  cardinals.  2eno  and  Gon^aga,  took  Borso 
between  them  to  thp  p.^«       « ^  ^^ 

inflamed  with  all^'  ^'  °^^*  °^**  P™^'  ^ 
the  throne   fK      !^       devotion,  slowly    moved  towards 

^o^etLr^"^^  ^^^  ''^^  ™-  genuflecting, 
pontifical  fel^!^n  Ir""*"^*"  *°  ^^  ^'^'^^^  ^'^^  ^^^y 
broke  up  in  heav,,  "*^''*  °*  *^  arrival  the  weather 

ExceUence  left  pTrr^'  ""'  ^*  *^^*  ^*^    *^««  si^<=«  hi^ 

On  Easter  SunH 
to  the  dignity  of  Dnt  f  ^  ''^'  ^^"^  *^  solemnly  raised 
-g  «f  Ste  i^  l'^'"^'  ""^^  *^"  P-^-r  of  dispos- 
ce^'nonywas^^,^":^^*^^---^  ^^ -hose.  The 
«^  honour  ^d  to?  ^t  ''^"'^  ^^^"^^  manifestation 
«^^  Po^'P  and  Z^'  °"         r*  t'  *^"   ^-P«'  with  all 

"»  We  chief  actors— old  men     Hr^i 
»Caleffini...  ..  '   broken  down 


Anosti  in  the  a^  °  described  in  every  detail  h  » 
ChigianMS.  alre^  •  °*  *^  ^°  le"«^  *<>  Ercole  d' »  f^ancesco 
*»  l^  secretarv  7??"  *^'*^>' ^'''i  ^y  Borso  himself  in  \.,^  ^^^  «»« 
fi*ediaac<^l^^'°\^nni  di  Compagno,  dated  Apra  i%  ,"«  better 
^-  4»-7.  The  +  r''^"  ^°^  *°  Calefani's  CrowtcA*  <fe/  /i  '^^  ' '  pre- 
^d  better  than^  **  *>*  ^"'^  "  ^^'^  ^"^^^^  Museum  M^".^"^^'. 
WgJ-rtarto  Giovanni  di  Compagno.  P^^J^  ***"  -Borso 
113  ^'^'     '869> 


DUKES   AND   POETS   IN    FERRARA, 


/ 


in  health  and  walking  already  in  the  shadow  of 
— entered  into  the  spirit  of  the  pageantry  with  a 
mystical  enthusiasm.    "  We  refer  all  this  our  exal 
wrote  the  Duke,  "  to  the  most  high  God,  to  whom 
with  all  submission  and  reverence,  that,  since  it  f^ 
pleased  His  Majesty  by  means  of  him  who  holds  H:-^^ 
on  earth.  He  may  confirm  this  honour  of  ours  in  ^^^ 
and  that  it  may  be  a  blessing  for  us  and  for  all  our  ^^ 
and  peoples." 

Robed  in  a  long  gown  of  crimson  cloth  of  gold 
carried  the  train  of  the  Pope's  cope  in  the  m; 
procession  to  the  Basilica  of  San  Pietro.     Before  Mass, 
while  the  papal  choir  sang  the  offices,  the  Pope  duk>be& 
Borso  a  knight  of  St.  Peter  and  gave  the  blessed  sword  into 
his  hands.    The  Despot  of  the  Morea  girded  it  on.   to   tlie 
Duke*s  side,  while  the  two  generals  of  the  papal    ^jtvx^  ^ 
Napoleone   Orsini   and   Costanzo  Sforza,  buckled    on    tlie 
golden  spurs.     "  Gird  on  the  sword  to  thy  thigh,  O  most 
potent  one,"  sang  the  choir,  "  in  the  name  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ ;  but  remember  that  the  Saints  conquered  kdivgdoms 
not  by  the  sword,  but  by  faith."    Then,  while  thie   strains 
of  the  Kyrie  Eleison  rose  in  petition  from  the  clxoristers, 
the  Pope  approached  the  altar  for  the  Mass.     .After    tlie 
Epistle  had  been  said  in  Latin  and  in  Greek,  Borso    knelt 
again  before  the  Pope,  and  took  the  oath  of  fidelity^       I^ope 
and  Duke  then  prostrated  themselves  together  before    tlie 
altar,    while    the    Litany    of    the  Saints  was   snng— -tiis 
Holiness  rising  in  the  middle  to  insert  a  novel  petition  of 
his  own  for  the  divine  blessing  upon  the  new  ducal  dignitv. 


'Mm 
f'jr 


JX: 


J,. 


I 


A  much  shorter  letter  from  Borso  to  Giovanni  di  Compa^no   i3  in 
Cappelli,  Ugo  Caleffini,  etc,,  pp.  307-308. 

114 


XME  TRIUMPH  OF  DUKE  BORSO 
At  the  Offertoiy,  Boreo  first  kissed  the  Pope's  feet  and 
hands  and  tten.  preceded  by  two  archbishops  and  foUowed 
by  Alb^o  d'  Este  and  Teofilo  Calcagnino,  embraced  aU 
^^  S"^^  "  ^-  ^*  «»«  Conmiunion.  he  received 
the  Bkssed  Sacrament  from  the  Pope's  hands,  and  gave 
hun  the  water  at  the  Ablutions.    Then  Paul  invested  him 

«r^  T  ""^  ^""^  dignity_a    long  mantle  of 

cr^^  damask  brocade  lined  with  er«aine.  with  a  long 

A  c!m,^T  *^^  °^  *™^e  which  covered  the  shoulders 
SveTuUt'^K?  '^"  ^*^  ^^'  "  «^t  thou  wouldst 
rtS^rC^^^-^^^^.  and  we  Should 
the  PooehWcJxu  *^  "®^  <^ess    of  ours."    Then 

his  hands.  anThl  a  'r*  T'  *^'  ^"'^""  "^^'^  "*° 
neck.    The  cerJZ  tK  ^'^'""^  ^^^'"^  ™'"**  ^^ 

the  "Sudari^r..^"^  "°^"^"''  *^"  ^°P«  «-h'^'*«i 
faithful,  and  atte!L  f  """"^     *°  *^^  ^^eneration  of  the 

rivalled  that  of  ^^S'  "^  ^'^  '*''***"^*  the  Basilica. 
^-"^-  AU  the  sJ^'^' ^'^  "-y  PT^l-  --ere  crushed  to 
corted  Borso  back  b1  T  "'  '""^  ^°P-'-  orders,  es- 
Venezia.  while  tder^"^  ^h""'  ^"""  ^  «^«  «-- 
shouts  of  the  Rn^  *°''^^'^  ^°^    **»e    acclaiminc 

't;"f ^^-"^'^  "'^"'^"  «or^.wt 
'^^of^SS'rr't^' •*^'/?''  "imitating  the 
"P«n  him  the  G.^irj°  ^J!^?^\^-in.  to  Z^r 


"Pon  him  the  cZ     T  ^'^"''^  ^^-  to  conf. 

San  Pietro    '  V  t  ^^  ^°^'    ^^"^  *"^"<^^  the  M^f 
i«  his  fuj'  .""^^^^  *^  ^^g  hy  the  Cardinal   of  ^  .**' 
'^  ducal    robes,  sitting    between  the  tw        ^**' 
115  **    Papa^ 


DUKES   AND    POETS    IN    FERRARA 

nephews,  the  Cardinals  Zeno  (of  Santa  Maria  in  Portico) 
and  Marco  Barbo  : — 

^^  When  the  Mass  was  finished  and  the  benediction  had 
been  given  in  the  usual  way,  our  Lord  sat  down  and  made 
a  fine  sermon,  and  a  long  and  goodly  oration,  in  which  he 
explained  to  what  end  the  Church  had  invented  this  festivity 
of  the  Rose,  and  what  it  signified,  and  how  it  was  given  to 
one  most  worthy  prince  of  this  world  for  a  similitude,  to 
exalt  every  man  to  the  desire  of  eternal  good  things,  to 
which  we  all  who  are  in  this  life  should  tend,  like  men, 
truly  elect  and  champions,  making  every  resistance  to  the 
things  that  are  of  the  devil  and  contrary  to  the  will  of  God. 
And  here,  right  well  to  the  point,  speaking  right  kindly, 
he  graciously  magnified  greatly  both  us  and  our  House, 
commemorating    some    excellent    benefits    done  by    our 
House  for  Holy  Church  (albeit  we  could  have   reminded 
him  of  others),  and  showing  clearly  how  we  were  worthy 
of  this  gift  of  the  Rose  for  many  reasons,  which  we  shall 
pass  over,  and  that,  as  we  have  been  good  up  to  now,  so 
should  we  continue  even  to  the  end,  to  be  hereafter  crowned 
in  our  celestial  country.    This  prayer  being  ended,  most 
devoutly  and  with  great  elegance  and  very  greatly  in  com- 
mendation of  us,  the  Lord  Cardinal  who  was  on  the  left  of 
his  Beatitude  went  down  to  the  altar  to  take  the  Rose  in 
his  hand  to  bring  it  into  his  sight ;  and  at  the  summons  we 
went  to  kneel  at  his  holy  feet,  accompanied  by  the  Cardinal 
of  Montferrat  and  him  of  Santa  Maria  in  Portico  ;  and  while 
we  were  on  our  knees,  his  Holiness  gave  us  the  Golden  Rose  ; 
which,  we  would  have  thee  know,  has  been  more  worthily 
adorned  than  it  has  ever  been  before  :  and  all  this  for  our 
glory.'' ^ 

1  Borso's  letter  to  Giovanni  di  Compagno,  MS.  e»<.,  f ,  6w. 

Il6 


.      THE   TRIUMPH   OF  DUKK    BORSO 
Hi 
i'ltoB^^^oorof  San  Pietro,  Paul  once  more  gave  the  Rose 

^**^^^^*^  hands,  so  that  the  people  might  see ;  after  which, 

han^*  ^y  all  the  Cardinals  and  carrying  the  Rose  in  his 

pamhif  ^  rode  in  triumph  through    the  streets  to  the 

^^Cft  of  San  Marco,  tired  out  in  body,  but  in  a  great 

"^^^f^^jntal  exaltation. 

If^  fact      t>^^^*l^  all  this  pomp,  there  -was  a  serious  and 

Hqi  I     A^0^  ^^  ^^^^-    ^®  ^^P^  ^^^    conceived  a  great 

\A        f  ftx^    xenovationof  the  Church,  and  Borso  seemed  to 

-  ^.^^iry  man  among  the  secular  princes  of  Italy  to 

^^    his^^^^*    ^^  remained  with  his  company  for  a  month 

^^^^       ^t^oXTial  City,  splendidly  entertained  by  the  Pope, 

*^        4t  so  gladly  welcomed  by  the  Romans  that  it  seemed 

^^   t  GoA    1^^  g^^^  *^  Rome."^     He   was  closeted   for 

^y  hours  in  secret  consultation  with    the  Sovereign 

^^'^^^iifi,  ai^d  openly  expressed  his  hope  of  bringing  the  latter 

ck  '^^  ^™  *^  Ferrara.    The  subject  of  these  prolonged 

•^^ijssions  excited  much  curiosity  among   the  Cardinals, 

^g^S,   they  were  generally  thought  to  refer  to  the  future 

^^j^jjiioning  of  a  Council  at  Ferrara  itself.*     Soon  after  the 

^^^^jginning  of  May,  Borso  left  Rome,  travelling  through  the 

^^j-ritory  of  the  Church  to  visit  the  Holy  House  of  Loreto. 

^y^  May  i8  he  entered  Ferrara,  with  Ercole — who  had  come 

^xx^  ^^  ^^*  him— riding  by  his  side. 

30TSO  returned  to  his  capital  with  the  long-sought  title 

^f  I>iike  of  Ferrara  and  with  the  power  of  disposing  of  his 

^j^tracliy  as  he  would,  but  utterly  broken  down  in  health. 

/^-t  liis  very  entrance  to  the  city,  he  refused  the  triumph 

-tl^at  the  people  had  prepared,  because  he  felt  himself  unable 

\jo  "b^r  it.    The  annual  race  in  honour  of  St.  George  had 

*  Caleffini,  Siona  di  Ferrara,  f .  54  v. 

*  Cf .  Pastor,  ii.  p.  392  and  document  icx). 

TI7 


DUKES   AND   POETS   IN   FERRARA 

been  postponed  for  him  and  his  Court,  and  was  run  on  May 
26 ;  but,  on  the  next  day,  the  Duke  was  seriously  ill.*  It 
was  whispered  that  both  he  and  the  Pope,  who  showed 
similar  s}miptoms,  had  been  poisoned. 

While  he  lay,  apparently  on  his  death-bed  at  Belfiore, 
civil  war  burst  out  in  the  peaceful  city  of  Ferrara.    Ercole 
assembled  the  Diamanteschi  in  Castello  Novo,  the  fortress 
which  then  commanded  the  southern  portions  of  the  city, 
and  appealed  to  Venice ;  Niccold  occupied  the  Castello 
Vecchio  with  his  Veleschi,  and  appealed  to  Mantua  and 
Milan.    There  was  a  desperate  battle  in  the  streets,  in 
which  the  followers  of  Ercole  were  the  aggressors  and  drove 
back  their  adversaries  with  heavy  loss.    An  envoy  from 
Bologna,  who,  after  deUvering  his  embassy  to  Borso,  had 
attempted  to  mediate  between  Ercole  and  Niccold,  was 
murdered  in  the  streets — it  was  said  at  Ercole's  instigation.^ 
The  Marquis  of  Mantua  sent  his  troops  to  the  frontier, 
under  the  command  of  his  son,  Federigo,  in  support  of 
Niccold,  and  the  Duke  of  Milan  assembled  a  strong  force 
of  horse  and  foot  in  the  district  of  Parma ;  but  they  were 
checked  by  the  prompt  action  of  the  Venetians,  who  ad- 
vanced upon  the  Polesine  of  Rovigo,  while  their  ships — 
two  galleons  and  five  galleys — ^appeared  upon  the  Po  and 
moved  up  towards  Ferrara,  with  orders  to  obey  Borso,  if 
he  Uved,  and,  if  he  died,  to  declare  for  Ercole.* 

But  a  sudden  rallying  on  the  part  of  Borso  dispelled  the 
tempest.  Carried  into  Castello  Vecchio  from  Belfiore,  he 
ordered  Niccold  instantly  to  retire  to  Mantua,  and  Ercole 
to  return  to  his  government  at  Modena.    Niccold  obeyed, 

*  Caleffini,  op.  cit,,  f.  55  ;  Diario  Ferrarese,  col.  229. 

2  Cronaca  di  Bologna,  col.  387  {Return  Italicarum  Scnptores,  xviii.). 

3  Cappelli,  Niccold  di  Leonello  d'  Este,  p.  419 ;  Diario  Perrarese, 
col.  229  ;  Caleffini,  Croniche  del  Duca  Ercole,  i.  8. 

118 


THE  TRIUMPH  OF  DUKE  BORSO 
and  left  Ferrara  on  July  23.  hastening  to  find  the  Marquis 
of  Mantua  aund  the  Duke  of  Milan,  who  were  together  at 
Gonzaga  a^d  were  profuse  in  their  promises  of  assistance.^ 
Ercole  ma^e  a  show  of  compliance,  but  soon  returned  and 
J^"^^  ^^/t^tion  for  taking  possession  of  the  State. 
Jl.  '^  ^'"^  *^'  ^°«t  ^th    his  last  breath 

Z^-^      I  "^'^  *"«  ^^«»  of  ^^   beloved  Duke 

FloLtine^' J^i"^*  5.  Giovanni  Stagnesio.  the 
that  Borso^*4^^-™*l*o  Loron.o  de'  Medici 

would  inevitably  ^  ^^  ,^!^r"l'  ^"^  *^*  ^""'^ 
of  the  nobles.  Z^^^  /f  ^  brothers,    the  majority 

contado.  werest^Ll  "'^t  ^^'^  ^^^^  ^'  *^«  ^'^^  ^^ 
be  ineffectual  ^JT  .  '  ^**  ^^  opposition  would 
All  the  fortresZT  ^"^  P°'^^''  ***  *^e  Venetians. 

CasteUo  Vecchio  ^Tc^t^:^''  °'  ^  ^^^eats,  the 
armed  with  artillerv  \lt^  ''^  "^^"^  ^^**  «  force  and 

and  not  the  slightltT""  ''^  ^^  enroUed  every  day. 

»-lf-»>n>therAlbertt;^r*'\^*^-  Vecchio;  his 
then  hastened  to  info^  F  1'''^''  ^  ,**^  *^«  «°d.  and 
kept  the  news  se^e'^^^^^t"  ''"*^"  "^^  Creole 
and  sununoned  the  y^^ti^  ^-  ^'^^^^^^  were  made, 
vicinity  the  next  V  ^^^'  '^*"*  arrived  in  the 

°:*^erepr^tlt''ofT*^'^'^^^*^  «^-  «-4 
of  the  Judge  of  1    .      ^^  P^P^^  ""**^'"  <*e  presid^rZ 

^ect  him  Duke.    As  soon  as  Sa«^  ^-*y^^ 

See  Past^'-.    ^^***^  ^»  Man/ova,  p.  i66. 
^iocument  2.     '  ^-  P*  394,  and   Appendix  II.  to  pres#.„+ 

^  CappeUi,  op,  ctt.,  p.  435. 
119 


DUKES    AND    POETS    IN    FERRARA 

communicated  the  result  of  the  meeting  to  him,  Ercole 
vested  himself  in  the  ducal  robes  that  the  Pope  had  given  to 
Borso,  with  the  cap  on  his  head,  the  blessed  sword  by  his 
side,  and  the  golden  spurs  at  his  heels,  and  the  golden  sceptre 
in  his  hand.    Thus  attired,  mounted  upon  a  white  horse, 
with  all  the  members  of  the  House  of  Este,  with  the  ducal 
household,  all  bearing  little  banners  with  the  crest  of  the 
diamante  upon  them,  attended  by  several  thousand  armed 
mercenaries,  Ercole  rode  through  the  streets  of  Ferrara  to 
the  Duomo.    There,  before  the  high  altar,  into  the  hands 
of  Antonio  Sandeo,  he  solemnly  swore  to  maintain  justice 
to  the  people  of  Ferrara.^    Then,  as  "Duke  of  Ferrara, 
Modena,  and    Reggio,  Marquis  of    Este,  and    Count  of 
Rovigo,"  he  announced,  as  though  it  had  taken  place  that 
same  day,  to  Lorenzo  de*  Medici,  that  Borso  had  died  and 
that  he  had  been  chosen  to  succeed  him.    "  May  God  have 
received  his  blessed  and  innocent  soul,  and  placed  it  in 
Paradise.    This  our  most  faithful  community  and  all  the 
other  peoples  of  our  most  illustrious  House  have  unani- 
mously elected  me  for  their  prince  and  lord,  and  given  me 
the  sceptre  of  the  government.    For  which  we  thank  and 
magnify  the  eternal  and  glorious  God."  * 

Borso's  state  funeral  took  place  on  the  22nd.  He  was 
laid  to  rest,  not  with  the  other  members  of  his  House,  but 
in  his  own  special  foimdation  of  the  Certosa  of  San  Cristo- 
foro.  In  that  most  restful  and  peaceful  of  Italian  burial- 
grounds — at  the  end  of  one  of  those  long,  harmoniously 
silent  ways  between  inclosed  and  fragrant  gardens  on 
either  side,  so  characteristic  of  Ferrara  to-day — ^the  tomb 
of  the  "  divine  Borso  "  is  still  shown,  while  you  shall  seek 

*  Csle&Td.CronicheMDuca  Ercole,  f.S;  Diario  Ferrarese,  col.  230. 
2  Letter  of  August  20,  147 1.     In  Cappelli,  op.  cit.,  p.  436. 

120 


THE  TRIUMPH  OF  DUKE    BORSO 

elsewhere     for  those  of  the  other  sovereigns  of  his  House 

in  vain. 

As  the  new  Duke,  with  aU  his  Court  and  a  long  array  of 
poor  "^oixriie,^  of  both  sexes,  clad  in  black  at  his  expense. 
foUow^  the  body  i„  procession  from  the  CasteUo  Vecchio 
down  the  Vxa  degli  Angeli.  the  whole  way  was  lined  with 
Tlr^^"'^"?"^"''  ""^^  '^  h"°d^«d  arquebusiers  and 
^Id^  k'"'-^'''^"  ^°"°^«d  to  guard  the  new 
Z:^^'%rr^  *^;^-^  *^-  he  had  of  the  fugi- 
the  funeral  omtiTin  .f    f  °'  ^^'^^^  ^*   ^^'  P^^^^^ 

theentra.^fte'p^eTl'"'^"^  """""^^  ^  P"^P^*  ^* 
the  people,  uttered  t.  ,'""  ^'^^''^  of  the  Duke  and 
sovereign,    "t.  ^  !^.    °^"^°*  Panegyric    of  the  dead 

Saviour  God  haH^       "^^^  *^^  chronicler.  "  that  our 
"^  had  died  a  second  time."  » 

P^^i.2rSJ;:'^ft-^-f '  *•  ^"^  ^'-»-«  ^*  ^*..ara.  f.  SSv 
bo^owed  fron,  CaleffiJ.^''  '^''  ^''^^  something   1^  ,j^„Jy  ^„ 


121 


Chapter  V 

UNDER  THE  SCEPTRE  OF  AU 

ERCOLE  D'  ESTE  was  two  months  \inder 
he  ascended  the  ducal  throne  of  Ferrara  ai 
He  was  a  tall  man,  handsome  in  a  somewhat 
fashion,  with  harsh,  strongly  marked  aquihne  1 
swarthy  complexion,  and  with  something  sul 
scrutable  in  his  expression.     In  his  portrait 
possibly  a  copy  after  some  ^lost  reconstructio 
sonality  by  Dosso  Dossi,  he  is  in  armour  w 
one  hand  resting  on  a  helmet,  the  other  on 
sword,  and  has  an  air  of  firm  and  unswervii 
which  the  facts  of    his  life     altogether   c 
admirable  picture  at  Modena,  ascribed  to  I 
reproduced  in  the  present  work,    shows 
softened  down  in  later  years.      Here  he  is 
in  armour,  wearing  a  black  velvet  bonnet 
of  St.  Roch,  leaning  one  arm  upon  a  pa 
study  of  an  Italian  despot  of   the  Renais 
manhood  Ercole  had  acquired    a    consid 
for  personal  valour,   with  whicti    liis 
corresponded ;  although  possessed  of  iiiai 

^  Chronological  considerations  make  it  irr 
ever  sat  to  Dosso  Dossi.  If  this  portrait  is 
probably  worked  up  from  earlier '^materials  afl 

122 


DUKES   AND   POETS    IN   FERRA 

within  this  magnificent  ducal  palace,  and  i 
humble  and  abject  part  of  it,  for  the  sacristy  of 
clemency."  This,  the  pious  courtier  assures 
mitted  by  the  Divine  Providence  "  for  the 
and  instruction  of  her  devout  and  pious  Mes 
to  give  him  confidence  in  coming  into  his  ow 
Lady's  patronage.  She  had  been  moved  and 
descend  into  this  shrine  in  the  palace,  ^^  for  no 
than  more  securely  to  protect  her  most  devote 
Lord  Ercole  and  the  right  splendid  city  of 
all  the  lordly  barons  of  the  most  illustrious  H 
and  to  quiet  henceforth  the  minds  of  the  peo] 
easily  stirred  up  and  divided  in  their  wills.  I 
in  that  time  not  seldom  did  there  seem  fear  oi 
than  civil,  in  which  would  be  such  copious 
blood  as  oft  doth  befall  in  cities  and  kingdon 
are  in  doubt  as  to  who  should  succeed  in  their 

Great  confidence  had  the  new  Duke  of  F 
protection  of  his  celestial  Patroness — and  ' 
httle  likewise  in  the  assassin's  dagger  and 
cup,  no  less  than  in  the  axe  of  the  headsman. 

He  b^an  his  reign  by  showering  favours 
who  had  been  assiduous  on  his  behalf,  or  hi 
for  their  fidelity  to  Borso ;  his  half-brothei 
Borso's    favourite,    Teofilo     Calcagnino,    v 
honoured,  the  latter  being  made  his  compa 

*■  La  Origine  et  el  Sik>  del  novo  Sacello  dedicado 
reverentia  de  la  gloriosissima  Vergene,  Madre  de  Jesu 
nostra,  intra  el  magna  e  magnifica  Pallaza  Ducale  d 
very  curious  treatise,  which  is  dated  April  22,  147 
dedicated  to  Pope  Sixtus  IV.  Like  Francesco  Alios 
quoted  on  Borso's  Roman  Triumph,  it  is  written  b 
in  Italian.  The  only  existing  manuscript  (Bibliot 
a,  w.  4,  4)  is  the  copy  presented  by  the  author  to  Le 

124 


DUKES   AND   POETS    I 

business,  giving  him  a  poisoned  ds 
should  lack  courage  to  use  it,  a  dead 
the  intended  victim's  food.  But  as 
approached,  on  the  evening  of  Decemt 
with  violent  colic  seized  upon  the  wr 
thinking  that  he  had  accidentally 
that  he  was  d3ang,  he  confessed  the  v 
and  to  Federigo  Gonzaga.  NiccoU 
self  by  flight,  while  the  treacherous  C 
plice  were  publicly  executed  inthems 
Niccold  d*  Este  at  once  wrote  to  Lo 
plaining  bitterly  that  "  Messer  Ercole 
with  having  occupied  my  State  by  d 
but  has  also  wickedly  tried  and  sch< 
taken  away  by  poison."  Not  to  let 
all  the  claim  to  celestial  favours,  h 
to  the  intervention  of  God  and  the  ] 
feast  of  her  Immaculate  Conception,  ai 
to  use  his  influence  on  his  behalf  at  tl 
he  fondly  imagines  that  the  questic 
with  the  duchy  of  Ferrara  is  being  ( 
your  Magnificence,  by  the  right  of  f riei 
me  to  his  most  reverend  Lordship,  the 
in  order  that  my  cause  may  not  be  los 
any  one  to  favour  the  justice  of  my  c 
to  every  reasonable  man.  I  shall 
to  your  Magnificence,  and  if  ever  I  ha^ 
fortune,  as  I  hope  in  God,  you  will  be 
me  and  all  my  means  as  though  they 
than  if  we  were  carnal  brothers."  ^ 

1  Letter  of  Niccold  d'  Este  to  Lorenzo  de 
1 47 1,  in  Cappelli,  Niccold  di  Leonello  d*  Este. 

126 


DUKES   AND   POETS   IN    FKRlRlj 

more  thoroughly  arranged,  and,  a  little  later,  f 
the  charge  of  the  learned  and  pompous  Pelleg^ni 
who  must  rank  as  one  of  the  great  Italian  ] 
the  early  Renaissance.  With  the  utmost  liber 
treasures  were  placed  at  the  disposal  of  the  ooi 
others,  and  the  ducal  library  continued  to  be  i 
head  of  culture  for  all  the  State.* 

Magnificent  pageants  accompanied  the  state  \risJ; 
to  Venice  in  February,  1472,  as  soon  as  he  foun 
firmly  seated  on  the  throne,  and  even  more  si 
festivities  welcomed  the  return  to  Ferrara  in  Jui 
Duke's  mother,  Madonna  Ricciarda,  after  her 
eight  years  of  voluntary  exile  at  Saluzzo.  Her 
Rinaldo  was  sent  to  bring  her  from  Casale  di  Met 
Sigismondo  and  Alberto  welcomed  her  at  the  i 
and  the  Duke  himself  with  all  his  Court  came  up 
to  meet  her  at  Vigarano.  On  the  day  of  her  home-c 
the  law-courts  and  all  the  shops  were  closed ;  five  hi 
Ferrarese  ladies  waited  to  receive  her  on  the  river 
and  with  bursts  of  music,  firing  of  guns,  clanging  of 
with  a  great  company  of  Piedmontese  and  Far 
nobles  riding  together,  she  was  brought  to  the  ducal  p 
opposite  the  Duomo,  where,  as  Melissa  foretells  to  1 
amante,  she  had  for  all  her  sorrows  and  vicissitude 
fortune  an  ample  ristoro.  "  If  ever  honour  was 
to  any  person,"  says  the  Ferrarese  Diarist,  "  think  ihsLi 
Lord  Duke  paid  it  to  his  mother."  * 

Henceforth  every  year  on  August  20,  the  anniVersarj' 

^  See  Bertom,  La  Bihlioteca  Estense,  cap.  ii.  and  iii.  passtm. 

*  Diario  Ferrarese,  col.  241.  Cf.  Orlando  Furioso,  xiii.  67.  Belfi< 
was  given  to  her  for  residence,  where  she  died  in  August,  14/4,  S. 
was  buried  with  her  husband  in  S.  Maria  degli  Angeli. 

128 


DUKES  AND   POETS    IN    FERR 

On  other  days  the  Duke  gave  a  state  banquel 
to  all  the  chief  ladies  of  Ferrara,  '^  marriages 
young  married  ladies  of  Ferrara  fit  for  dan( 
Diarist  puts  it,  in  the  palace ;  in  spite  of  his 
Excellence  himself,  "  robed  in  a  gown  of  blj 
with  ermine,  with  a  collar  round  his  neck  worth : 
ducats,"  opened  the  ball  with  the  wife  of  one 
while   Sigismondo,    Rinaldo,    and   Alberto, 
Teofilo  Calcagnino,  "  his  companion,"  Borso 
(first  cousin  to  Niccold)  and  the  rest  did  the 
fully.     The  carnival  of  1473  was  unusually 
it  was  anticipated    and    prolonged    from    tl 
of  January  to  the  end  of  March,  in  honour  c 
approaching  marriage.     Masquerades  filled 
its  suburbs,  night  after  night.    Princes  of 
House,  nobles  of  the  Court,  private  citizens  v: 
other  in  hospitality  and  display,  the  whole 
crowned  by  a  great  masked  ball  in  the  ducal 
last  day  of  the  carnival,  when  all  the  lords 
of  Este  appeared  in  masquerade.*     Even 
they  managed  to  keep  it  up.     On  March 
bride,   Maria  Lucrezia  of    Montferrat,   cam 
along  the  Po,  was  met  by  the  Duke  and  rod 

The  list  occupies  five  pages,  three  colunins  to  a  pag< 
Museum  manuscript.  Capons  and  cheeses,  "  fom 
appear  to  have  been  the  most  usual  offerings  ;  but 
pheasants,  partridges  and  other  birds,  even  peacock 
A  poor  priest,  the  '*  capellano  de  Santa  Maria  N 
white  torches.  A  Hebrew  money-lender,  Salome 
with  little  tarts  and  candles. 

^  All  these  details  from  the  Diario  Ferrarese,  co 
should  be  remembered  that  these  festivities  at  this 
not  in  the  Castello  Vecchio,but  in  the  present  Palace  c 
opposite  the  Duomo.  There  was  a  great  banqueting 
out  to  the  east  upon  the  Piazza  and  to  the  north  up 

130 


DUKES   AND    POETS    IN    FER 

comber  of  wool — ^by  malversation  and  extortio: 
a  fortime  of  thirty  thousand  ducats.  One  o 
married  a  daughter  of  Cammilla  dalla  Tavoh 
on  the  mother's  side  of  Alberto  and  Guron( 
August,  1475,  Ercole  found  him  out.  Son: 
shown  him,  because  he  was  ready  to  betray  hu 
but  he  was  sentenced  to  pay  an  enormous  fin 
and  expelled  from  Ferrara.  All  his  goods 
cated,  and  every  member  of  his  family  hunte 
home.  The  mob  was  suffered  to  sack  his  I 
private  citizen  paid  the  priests  of  the  Duomc 
bells  all  that  day  and  night,  and  made  a  gr 
front  of  the  Castello  Vecchio.  "  Not  for  two  ] 
had  the  people  of  Ferrara  received  better  ne\ 
joy."  The  man's  wife,  Giovanna  Ariosti,  < 
Nevertheless,  subsequent  events  showed  tha 
fited  but  little  from  the  lesson.  Another  ( 
same  type,  who  added  hypocrisy  to  his  attj 
Frate  Gughelmo,  a  Fiedmontese  friar  who  hac 
confessor.  He  made  use  of  his  post  of  Rector  < 
di  Santa  Anna,  to  extort  money  from  the  pa 
too,  Ercole  sent  about  his  business,  and  put  m 
life  in  his  stead.* 

Meanwhile  in  Rome,  the  General  of  the 
Francesco  della  Rovere,  had  succeeded  to  I 
the  title  of  Sixtus  IV,  a  Genoese  thus  replaci 
upon  the  throne  of  the  Fisherman.  Moden 
cleared  the  memory  of  Sixtus  from  the  foules 
that  have  stained  his  memory,  at  least  so  far  a 
morality  is  concerned.    Not  so,  however,  fron 

^  Caleffini,  Croniche  del  Duca  Ercole^  ff,  22v 
«  Caleffini,  MS,  cit.,  i.  24. 

132 


DUKES   AND    POETS   IN   FERRARA 

Romagna  to  Ercole  and  his  heirs,  and  ackno^vlec 
ducal  title. 

The  time  had  come  for  the  Duke's  marriage  v 
Princess  Leonora  of  Aragon,  the  eldest  daughter  of  hh 
foe>  King  Ferrante  of  Naples.  As  the  King  wa3  the 
spirit  in  the  Triple  Alliance,  it  will  be  seen  that 
marriage  Ercole  was  turning  his  back  upon  the 
polity  of  Borso,  and  running  the  risk  of  future  compl 
with  his  formidable  neighbours,  Venice  and  Ron 
present,  however,  neither  the  Most  Serene  Republic  i 
Sovereign  Pontiff  raised  any  objection  to  the  matcl 

A  little  collection  of  courtly  and  dignified  love-le 
still  preserved  in  the  Ardiivio  di  Stato  at  Modena,  ^ 
by  Ercole  in  his  own  hand  to  Leonora — iUustrissima 
tissitna  mia  consorU^  as  he  calls  her,  in  anticipation 
coming.  They  are  mere  formal  courtesies  for  the 
part.  In  one  he  thanks  her  for  her  letters  and  gi 
little  gifts,  "  le  cose  gentile  che  La  me  ha  tnandato  ' 
another,  with  what  seems  a  genuine  touch  of  passic 
says :  "  One  hour  seems  to  me  a  thousand  years  befon 
Ladyship  is  here."  ^ 

In  April  a  noble  company  of  gentlemen  left  Ferra 
bring  Leonora  to  her  bridegroom.  The  progress  c 
bridal  train  up  through  Italy  from  Naples  to  Ferran 
one  continuous  trimnph.  The  countrymen  of  the  I 
groom  were  represented  by  his  brothers,  Sigismondo 
had  acted  as  his  procurator)  and  Alberto  d*  Este,  by 
eotto  Pico  and  Marco  Pio,  the  Lords  of  Mirandola 
Carpi,  each  of  these  two  with  twenty-four  horsemen 
Borso  of  Corr^;gio,  Matteo  Maria  Boiaido,  Niccold 

*  Archivio  di  Modena,  Carteggio  dei  Principi,  letters  of  Jan 
22,  March  4,  March  2y,  April  10,  1473. 

134 


DUKES   AND    POETS    IN    FERl 

the  two  .Cardinals  to  the  Vatican,  to  assist 
Mass  and  have  an  audience  of  the  Holy  Fat 
all  hearts  by  her  wisdom  and  her  gracious 
"  Tully  himself,"  said  the  Cardinals,   "  wou] 
quence  by  comparison  with  her."    Afterwards 
her  back  again  to  witness  the  performance  o 
Susanna  by  a  Florentine  company.     The   ne: 
Monday,  a  sumptuous  banquet  was  given  in  I: 
the  splendour-loving  Pietro  Riario,  in  the  fair 
was  to  vanish  like  a  dream  on  her  departure  ; 
menu  may  be  read  at  length  in  Corio's  histor 
modem  mind  its  most  taking  feature  was  the 
scenes  set  forth  upon  the  tables  in  shapes  of 
sized.    There  was  the  story  of  Atalanta,  the 
Andromeda,  the  chariot  of  Ceres,  the  labours 
the  triumph  of  Venus,  and  many  other  ingenioi 
the  same  kind — ^all,  of  course,  accompanied  by  I 
in  honour  of  the  new  Alcides  and  his  divine  Pa 
bride.    At  the  end  of  the  banquet  there  was  a  c 
sixteen  great  lovers,  men  and  women,  of  the  o] 
the  fierce  Centaurs  rushed  in  to  carry  off  the  nj 
were  routed  and  driven  away  by  Hercules,  a 
"there  was  the  representation  of  Bacchus  an< 
with  many  other  most  beautiful  things,  of  very 
inestimable  expense."  * 

The  splendid  company  entered  Florence  on  thej 
June  22,  having  spent  the  previous  night  at  San 
They  rode  through  the  Porta  Romana  across  i 
Vecchio  to  the  Palazzo  della  Signoria,  where  the  P 
waiting  for  them  on  the  Ringhiera,  and  an  expects 

1  Corio,  iii.  pp.  267-275  ;  C.  Corvisieri,  //  Trionfo  j 
Eleonora  d*Aragona  ;  Pastor,  ii.  pp.  430-433. 

136 


DUKES   AND   POETS  IN  Fl 

festivities  foUowed,  with  balls,  toumameni 
kinds.  In  the  ducal  palace,  "  the  Excelle 
danced,  with  her  black  hair,  according  to  tl: 
flowing  down  her  shoulders  and  a  aown  < 
Queen."  *  And  the  Ferrarese  were  not  dis 
magnificent,  dark  queenly  Duchess ;  Leoi 
and  virtuous  as  she  was  beautiful  and  ta 
Messer  Lodovico : — 

De  r  alta  stirpe  d'  Aragona  antic: 
Non  tacerd  la  splendida  Regina, 
Di  cui  nd  saggia  si,  n6  si  pudica 
Veggio  istoria  lodar  Greca  o  Lati 
N6  a  cui  Fortuna  pid  si  mostri  i 
Poi  che  sar^  da  la  Bontd.  divina 
Eletta  madre  a  partorir  la  bella 
Progenie,  Alfonso,  Ippolito  e  Isa 

On  May  i8,  1474,  Leonora  gave  hi 
Isabella — that  IsabeUa  in  whom  we  no\ 
woman  of  the  Italian  Renaissance.  Sh 
Ercole's  eldest  child ;  he  had  already 
daughter,  Lucrezia,  by  a  certain  Lod< 
Condolmieri,  bom  shortly  before  his  ao 

The  Duchess  had  made  a  vow  to  the 

*  Caleffini,  MS.cit.,  ff.  i6t;,  17  ;  Diario 
"  She  surpasses  the  cherubim  in  beauty/' 
from  his  dungeon  ;  "  never  was  there  seen  a 
she  will  draw  me  out  of  this  castle  "  (Bert 
the  previous  year,  the  five  captive  Pio  had  a 
Bernardino  and  Tommaso  were  recapture 
stricter  guard.     They  were  finally  released  h 

«  Orlando  Furioso,  xiii.  68.  "  Of  the  h 
Aragon  shall  I  not  fail  to  sing  the  splendi 
pure  as  she,  see  I  neither  Greek  nor  Latii 
nor  one  to  whom  Fortune  shows  herself 
shall  be  chosen  by  the  Divine  Hounty  1 
progeny,  Alfonso,  Ippolito,  and  Isa^bella.." 

138 


DUKES   AND   POETS   IN    FERK 

1452,  in  the  very  year  of  Borso's  elevation  t 
dignity,  Girolamo  Savonarola,  the  grandson  c 
Michele,  was  now  a  student  of  medicine  at 
His  father  Niccold— a  courtier  and  a  spendthrift 
one  day  in  his  company  to  assist  at  one  of  the 
entertainments  in  the  ducal  palace ;  but  he 
refused  ever  again  to  cross  its  threshold.  The 
leads  out  from  San  Francesco  to  the  shady  a 
poplars,  laburnum  and  chestnut,  which  line  the 
walls  of  Ferrara,  is  now  called  the  Via  Savonaro] 
Via  di  Cistema  del  FoUo,  and  is  one  of  the  most 
deserted  ways  of  the  modem  city.  Seldom  does 
more  noisy  pass  up  or  down  it  than  labouring 
drawing  their  loaded  wains.  San  Francesco  itself 
left  to  tell  of  its  past  glories.  But  in  Savonaro 
the  street  was  full  of  gay  and  courtly  life,  and 
the  loud  revelry  in  the  Palazzo  Strozzi,  which  hy 
the  gardens  of  the  friars  of  San  Francesco  ( 
palace  now  called  the  Palazzo  Pareschi  was  not  i 
Ercole  until  several  years  later),  where  the  brothe 
Vespasiano  and  Lorenzo  di  Naimi  Strozzi,  exercised  j 
hospitaUty.  A  little  further  on,  another  Florentin 
Diotisalvi  Neroni,  had  built  himself  a  palace  th 
stands.  But,  adjoining  the  Palazzo  Strozzi,  was  1 
pretentious  house  of  the  Savonarola,  opposite  th 
piazza  and  church  of  San  Girolamo.  And  here  Gii 
buried  himself  in  his  Thomist  theology  and  kept  hi 
vigils,  shutting  his  ears  to  the  sound  of  revelry,  U 
convinced  that  the  time  was  hopelessly  out  of  joint, 
yet,  if  the  testimony  of  Fra  Benedetto  is  to  be  acce 

1  In  the  Vulnera  DiligetUis,  he  professes  to  have  had  the 

140 


DUKES   AND    POETS   IN    FERRARA 

fuge  crudelis  terras,  fuge  litus  avarum.^*  *    Such  seemed  the 
Court  and  city  of  Ercole  d*  Este  to  the  future  propliet 
righteousness. 

Leonora  gave  birth  to  a  second  daughter,  to  whom  t:» 
name  Beatrice  was  given,  on  June  29,  1475.  On  tlT- 
occasion  "  no  public  rejoicings  were  made,  because  thMrt 
wished  that  it  had  been  a  boy."  « 

The  year  1476  opened  under  favourable  auspices.     Po<z: 
Sixtus  seemed  unusually  friendly.    Some  sixteen  montj^ 
before,  on  the  death  of  Lorenzo  Roverella,  he  had  appoint  :* 
a  young  nephew  of  his  own,  Fra  Bartolommeo  deUa  Roveti^ 
to  the  bishopric  of  Ferrara,  and  Ercole  had  received  hr^ 
graciously.    The  Pope  now  sent  Monsignor  Luca  Pasi 
Faenza,  who  was  one  of  the  Ferrarese  agents  at  the  Colp^^ 
of  Rome,  as  special  envoy ;  on  January  21,  after  Mass 
been  sung  at  the  high  altar  of  the  Cathedral,  he  prese:^ 
Ercole  with  a  silk  cap  adorned  with  pearls,  and  a  s 
of  honour  in  a  gold-worked  sheath.^    Nor  did  Venice 
less  cordial.    On  February  9,  Leonora  went  with  Sigism*  g,-M^.»- 
and  Rinaldo  d*  Este,  Niccold  da  Correggio,  Bianca  • 
Mirandola,  Marietta  Strozzi  Calcagnino  (the  wife  of  M* 
Teofilo)  and  others,  to  pay  a  formal  visit  to  the  Doge: 
Signoria.    She  returned  on  the  23rd,  suffering  a  great  ^-^ 
at  sea  on  the  way.    The  Duke  went  out  to  meet  heir    \  "^" 
it   was  noticed  that,  before  she  went  up   to   her      —    ■  ^ 
ments,  she  visited  the  chapel  of  the  Madonna  of  the 
and  prayed  before  the  miraculous  image.* 

^  See  whole  letter  in  Villari,  Savonarola,  i.,  document  2. 

*  Diario  Ferrarese ,  col.  250. 

»  Zambotto,  Silva  Cronicarum  (Biblioteca  di  Ferrara,  cod .  -  ,^^ 

*  Zambotto,  £.21.     The  chapel  had  just  been  rebuilt,    ^^*^    -— 
della  Mirandola  at  Venice  had  astounded  the  Doge  and  Sigti^^U 
her  eloquence  on  behalf  of  her  husband  (Caleffini,  MS.  cit,,  1  ^    ^^'i^  ^^ 

142  '^- 


DUKES   AND   POETS   IN    FERRARA 

Paduans,  under  the  command  of  Francesco  and  Bninoro 
da  Groppo.    Early  in  the  afternoon,  Niccold  and  his  men 
arrived  at  the  walls  of  the  city,  beneath  Castd  Tedaldo, 
where  they  were  being  rebuilt  near  the  church  of  Santa 
Agata.    Here  they  easily  broke  through,  occupied  one  of  the 
smaller  gates,  and  pressed  towards   the   piazza,  shouting 
"  Vela !  Vela  1  "    All  the  bells  of  the  churclies  dashed  out 
the  alarm ;  the  people  were  aghast,  and  did  imot  realize  what 
was  on  foot ;  no  one  joined  the  invaders.     TIl e  captain  of  the 
guard  of  the  piazza  with  his  soldiers  rushed  i_nto  the  Duomo 
and  closed  the  doors :     "  I  was  then  with    my  father  and 
with  Messer  Hieron3mio  Ferrarino,  a  student  of  law  and 
my  companion,"  writes  Zambotto,  "  at  tlL.e  Mass  at  the 
altar  of  Our  Lady,  and  we  saw  the  priest,  who  was  sayinj^ 
the  Gospd,  take  up  the  chalice  and  missal  from  the  altar 
and  run  away  without    finishing   the   Mass.'*     Shouting 
promise  after  promise  to  the  people,  Niccold  rode  round  the 
piazza ;   his   adherents  burst   open   the   prisons,    roaring 
"  Vda,  Vela,"  and  then  "  Marco,  Marco,"  to    make  men 
believe  that  the  Venetians  were  with  them — ^but  all  in  vain. 
Three  German  students,  who  could  not  understand  when  told 
to  shout  "  Vela,"  were  done  to  death.    Then  Niccold  took 
his  seat  as  sovereign  of  Ferrara  in  front  of  the  Palazzo  deUa 
Ragione,  under  the  impression  that  the  people  would  pay 
him  homage.    A  few  of  his  partisans  within  the  city  de- 
clared themselves ;  one  of  the  more  prominent  sat  down  by 
his  side,  only  to  be  shot  dead  by  a  crossbowman  from  a 
window  of  the  Corte  Vecchia. 

At  the  first  alarm,  the  Duchess  had  caught  up  the  new 
baby  in  her  arms,  and,  with  her  women  carrying  the  two 
little  girls,  rushed  along  the  covered  passage  to  the  Castello 
Vecchio.    Here  Sigismondo  had  raised  the  bridges  and  held 

144 


DUKES   AND    POETS   IN   FERRARA 

a  bastard  of  the  House.  Niccold  himself  escaped  into  the 
country,  was  found  hiding  in  a  swamp,  and  brought  back  to 
Ferrara  the  same  evening.  > 

The  next  day  the  Duke  returned  to  Ferrara.  The  dead  f 
were  still  Ijang  in  heaps  about  the  streets  and  squares ;  the 
three  castles  were  filled  with  prisoners.  "  Messer  Sigis- 
mondo  and  Messer  Rinaldo  da  Este,  his  brothers,  went  to 
meet  him,"  writes  Zambotto,  who  was  present,  "with  all 
the  nobles  of  the  city ;  and,  when  he  arrived  at  the  piazza, 
and  heard  all  the  people  crying  diamante^  diamante^  Ercole, 
EfcolCy  and  saw  his  wife  and  children  at  the  balcony  of  the 
G>urt,  all  weeping  with  gladness,  he  could  not  contain  him- 
self, but  began  to  weep  too  for  joy  at  the  fidelity  of  the  people. 
And  straightway  he  dismoimted  and  entered  into  the  Duomo, 
and  went  to  the  high  altar  to  thank  God,  who  hath  liberated 
him  from  very  great  peril  of  his  life  and  of  his  State."  * 

Two    days    of    thanksgiving     and    popular    rejoicings 
followed,  and  then  the  work  of  vengeance  began.    On  Sep- 
tember 3,  the  condottieri  and  eighteen  others  were  hanged 
from  the  balcony  and  windows  of  the  Palazzo  deUa  Ragione, 
and  five  more  from  the  battlements  of  the  Castello  Vecchio. 
During   the  night   that  followed,   Niccold  was   privately 
beheaded  in  the  cortile  of  the  Castello.    On  the  following 
morning  it  was  proclaimed  on  the  part  of  the  Duke  that  all 
the  nobles,  doctors,  officials  and  citizens  of  Ferrara  should 
go  to  pay  honour  to  the  body  of  Messer  Niccold  d'Este  to 
the  tomb.    The  head  had  been  sewn  on  to  the  trunk  ;   the 
body  was  arrayed  in  a  long  robe  of  gold  brocade,  a  crimson 
cap  was  placed  upon  the  head  and  new  gloves  upon    the 
hands ;  and  so  it  was  carried  out  of  Castello  Vecchio  by 
the  knights  of  the  city,  and  then  successively  by  the  doctors 
1  Zambotto,  f.  281;. 
146 


y 


UNDER  THE  SCEPTRE   OF   ALCIDES 

of  law  and  the  physicians  to  the  church  of  San  Francesco, 
with  great  pomp,  attended  by  all  the  Ferrarese  clergy.  The 
Ambassador  of  Naples,  the  Visdomino  of  the  Venetians,  the 
Rectors  of  the  Universities,  followed  as  chief  mourners,  with 
Sdpione  d'  Este  (a  bastard  of  Meliaduse)  representing  the 
kindred  of  the  slain  man,  Jacopo  Trotti  the  Judge 
of  the  twdve  Sages,  with  the  magistrates,  members 
of  the  Duke's  secret  council  and  all  the  gentlemen  of  the 
Court.  "And  many  could  not  refrain  from  tears,  and 
Madama  the  Duchess,  who  was  looking  on  from  the  balcony 
of  the  Court  with  her  damsels,  wept  bitterly."  He  was 
laid  in  the  red  tomb  of  the  House  of  Este  in  San  Francesco, 
where  so  many  of  his  forefathers  and  kindred  slept.* 

Azzo  da  Este  had  shared  his  fate,  but  was  buried  without 
any  pomp  or  ceremony,  "in  his  shirt  all  blood-stained,"  as 
Calefl&ni  has  it,  in  the  same  church.  A  series  of  hangings 
and  beheadings  followed.  In  compassion  for  his  age,  the 
deathsmen  would  fain  have  spared  the  Ufe  of  a  certain  Luca, 
Niccold's  old  cook,  and  on  the  scaffold  they  bade  him  say 
"Viva  il  Diamante,"  and  be  pardoned.  The  old  man 
shouted  "Viva la  Vela,"  and  died.  Some  two  or  three 
hundred  men,  who  protested  that  thqr  had  acted  in  ignor- 
ance, were  sentenced  to  lose  hand  or  eye,  but  instead  were 
made  over  to  different  courtiers  and  even  to  convents,  to  be 
put  to  ransom— and  most  of  them  were  set  free  without 
payment.    In  November,  the  priest  spy  was  brought  out 

T  '  ^^^^'  ^^'  "^^  ^-  ^7  ;  Zambotto,  ff.  28v,  29.  Niccold  di 
^^  ^  ^^  was  never  married,  but  left  three  megitimate 
children :  Gurolamo,  Battista  and  Vincenzo  (of.  I.  Giorgi,  Fram- 
m^  d'Iconografia  Estense,  in  the  Bullettino  delV  Istituio  Storico 
1  yl\^*A»^'  ^^'  ^°  ^^^  years,  Ercole  made  them  a  provision,  and 
IsabeUa  d  Este,  with  her  characteristic  generosity,  took  them  under 
her  protection.    See  Appendix  II.,  documents  16  and  19. 

M7 


DUKES   AND   POETS    IN    FERRARA 

upon  a  high  scaffold  erected  in  front  of  the  Duomo,  and 
there  degraded.    But  first  "  there  was  read  a  brief  of  the 
Pope,  which  committed  this  punishment  to  the  Excellence 
of  our  Duke,  and,  at  the  end  of  the  said  brief,  the  Pope 
exhorted  the  Duke  to  use  pity  towards  him  and  pardon  him, 
according  to  the  example  of  the  Crucified,  who  pardoned 
the  Jews.    The  priest  said  that,  rather  than  he  should  be 
degraded,  Our  Lady  would  work  a  miracle  ;  but  all  the  same 
he  was  degraded  without  miracles."    He  was  taken  back 
to  the  Castello  Vecchio  as  a  layman ;  then,  a  few  days  later, 
brought  out  again  and,  after  his  condenmation  had  been 
read,  hanged  from  a  window  of  the  Palazzo  della  Ragione.^ 
Alberto  Masolino  and  Ardillaso  de'  Panciaticchi,  Niccolo's 
chancellor    and    equerry,    were    beheaded    in    December. 
"  They  died  willingly  for  love  of  their  lord,  and  they  could 
have  saved  themselves,  if  they  had  chosen,  by  confessing  a 
certain  thing  to  the  Duke  that  he  wished  to  know."  *   A 
third,  Antonio  di  Filippo,  who  had  influential  Ferrarese 
connections,  was  pardoned  on  the  scaffold. 

Then  at  last  the  Duke  gave  commands  that  the  work  of 
blood  should  cease,  and  that  no  further  search  should  be 
made  for  those  implicated.  On  Christmas  Eve  one  of  his 
judges  presented  him  with  a  paper  upon  which  was 
written  a  long  list  of  nobles  and  gentlemen  of  the  duchy, 
with  a  valuation  of  their  estates,  whom  he  accused  of  having 
been  privy  to  Niccold*s  conspiracy,  urging  the  Duke  to  put 


*  Zambotto,  ff.  32,  32V.  He  states  that  "  this  priest  confessed 
that  Messer  Niccold  had  determined  to  murder  Messer  Sigismondc 
and  Messer  Rinaldo  da  Este,  and  to  take  Madama  Leonora  our 
Duchess,  with  the  children,  and  send  them  to  a  city,  the  name  of 
which  it  is  better  to  pass  over  in  silence."  Venice  is  apparently 
meant. 

a  Caleffini,  MS,  cit,,  f.  29. 

148 


UNDER  THE  SCEPTRE   OF    ALCIDES 


them  to  death  and  to  confiscate  their  goods.  Ercole  was 
standing  by  the  side  of  a  large  fire.  He  took  the  paper  from 
the  hand  of  the  ofl&cious  judge  and,  without  reading  a 
single  name,  threw  it  into  the  flames.  "  Thus,  with  their 
names  and  their  possessions  which  are  written  here,  let  the 
memory  perish  of  all  that  they  have  thought,  tried  and  done 
against  me."  * 

In  the  meanwhile,  the  Most  Illustrious  Signoria  of  Venice 
had  sent  ambassadors,  Messer  Paolo  Morosini  and  Messer 
Marco  Barbarigo,to  congratulate  Ercole  upon  his  triumph 
and  to  make  excuses  for  the  presence  in  Niccold's  attempt 
of  men  from  Vicenza  and  Padua— all  of  which  Ercole  had 
received   with   the   utmost   gradousness.     The  ruler    of 
Bologna,  Giovanni  II  Bentivoglio,  indignantly  repelled  the 
suggestion  that  he  had  aided  Niccold  with  men  and  horses  ; 
and  Ercole  wrote  to  assure  him  that  he  was  most  ready,  if 
necessary,  to  write  through  all  Italy,  that  every  one  might 
know  that  he  held  him,  Bentivoglio,  per  suo  caro  e  intrinseco 
amko?    And  on  October  4,  the  feast  of  St.  Francis,  the 
baptism  of  the  Uttle  Alfonso— iV  nostro  doldssimo  primo- 
gemto,  a  nostro  puUino,  as   the   Duke   caUs   him    in    his 
letters  to  his  orator  at  Florence— had  been  solemnized  in 
the  Duomo  by  the  Bishop  of  Chioggia,  with  the  RepubUcs 
of  Vemce  and  Florence  standing  god-fathers  by  their  special 
envo3^.8    Thus  was  the  future  victor  of  Ravenna,  the  uomo 
tembile  among  the  princes  of  the  Cinquecento,  bom  into  a 

p.  4^6.'  ^^^^'  ^^«<w«mt7»,  X.  3  ;  Sardi,  p.  288 ;  CappelU,  op,  cU., 
e  gli  Es^f  October  17,  1476.     Dallari,  Carteggio  tra  %  Bentivoglio 

Orator  in^t/^**^  ^^^  ^'^^^^^  ^  Niccol6  Bendedei,  Estensian 
PfmU^.^ ,.  .  ^'  ^^  *^«  ^^  «  Memorie  di  Storia  Palria  per  le 
ffovxncu  Modenesi  e  Parmensi,  series  I.,  vol.  3. 

149 


DUKES   AND    POETS    IN   FERRARA 

heritage  of  sanguinary  feud,  at  a  moment  when  his  own 
had  been  threatened  in  the  cradle  and  Ferrara  was  still 
with  his  cousin's  blood.  Little  wonder  that,  in  after  y^ 
he  bettered  the  instruction ! 

It  was,  indeed,  a  year  of  plotting  and  bloodshed, 
months  later,  on  the  Feast  of  St.  Stephen,  the  infa^^^^g^^ 
Duke  of  Milan — Galeazzo  Maria  Sforza — was  stabV>^^'^_^ 
death  by  three  noble-minded   assassins   in  the  chuX^i^^ 
San  Stefano.    Ercole  was  at  Mass  in  the  chapel 
Madonna  in  the  Court,  when  the  news  reached  Ferrar-"   ^ '^  >^ 
his  ambassador  in  Milan,  Roberto  Boschetti,  in  whos^^^^V.^ 
the  Duke  had  breathed  his  last.    He  was  prompt  in.  tT^^ 
ing  assistance  to  the  widowed  Duchess  Bona,  who   ^was  the 
regent  for  her  young  son,  the  hapless  Gian  Galea^^o.     \xl 
the  following  simimer,  the  baby  prince  Alfonso  was  s^olemnly 
betrothed  to  Anna  Sforza,  Gian  Galeazzo's  sister^ 
girl  about  a  year  older  than  himself.    The  three 
of    the    late   Duke — Sforza,  Lodovico   il  Moro 
signer  Ascanio — opposed  the  rule  of  Bona*s  f  avouiirfe,  Cecco 
Simonetta ;  they  were  banished  from  Milan  in  tbie  follow- 
ing year,  and  put  under  bounds  at  Naples,  Pisa  and  I^en^ia 
They  stayed  for  a  few  days  at  Ferrara  in  June  on  tlieir  wavs 
to  their  places  of  banishment,  much  honoured  by  Ercole  and 
lodged  in  Schifanoia,  where  on  the  first  evening,  as  tliev  sat 
at  supper  under  the  loggia,  two  blind  poets,  Giovaxini  ^cssA 
Francesco,  who  appear  to  have  been  Florentijcxes    itx  vK 
Ferrarese  service,  sang  to  them.  Among  other  things,  the  Di  v 
entertained  them  with  a  race  of  leopards  in  the  Barco 
month  later,  on  July  14,  the  marriage  of  the  t^o  K  k- 
Alfonso  and  Anna,  was  celebrated  in  the  presence  of  ^        ,* 
ambassadors,  "  who  were  received  in  Ferrara  witki  v^^v  ^ 

honour,  and  lodged  in  the  Court  of  the  mo^t  iUno*  ^^^ 

150  "stiaous 


^^^■^.. 


UNDER  THE  SCEPTRE   OF   ALCIDES 


Duke  Ercole,  and  stayed  there  triumphantly  for   many 
days."^ 

Leonora  was  not  present  at  these  festivities,  and  did  not 
witness  the  betrothal  of  her  baby  boy.  She  had  gone  to 
Naples  in  May,  to  visit  her  father,  and  there  in  September, 
1477,  she  gave  birth  to  a  secx)nd  son,  Ferdinando  or  Ferrando, 
as  his  father  always  calls  him  in  his  letters.  The  Cardinal 
of  San  Pietro  in  VincoU,  GiuUano  della  Rovere,  who  was  then 
at  Naples,  stood  sponsor.  In  her  absence,  Ercole  had 
relations  with  one  of  the  ladies  of  her  household,  Isabella 
Arduino,  who  in  March,  1478,  bore  him  a  son,  Giulio.*  This 
adulterous  intrigue  stands  quite  alone  in  Ercole's  life,  and 
we  have  no  trace,  not  even  the  faintest  suggestion,  of  any 
subsequent  act  of  infidelity  towards  his  wife.  Leonora 
returned  to  Ferrara  in  November,  leaving  Ferrando  and 
Beatrice  at  her  father's  Court  in  charge  of  her  sister-in-law, 
the  Duchess  of  Calabria.  In  March,  1479,  the  third  son  of 
Ercole  and  Leonora— afterwards  to  be  f amous  as  Ippolito — 
was  bom.  The  names  of  these  three— Ferrando,  Ippolito, 
and  GiuUo— were  destined  to  be  linked  horribly  together  in 
after  years,  and  with  that  of  Alfonso. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  Ercole  was  sincerely  attached 
to  his  wife.    Profoundly   reUgious   (even   as   he  himself 

r  l+^v*^^  P^arese,  col.  254.  By  the  Court  is  always  meant  the 
Corte  Vecchia,  the  present  Palazzo  del  Municipio.  But  in  this  year, 
1477,  probably  in  consequence  of  the  alarm  caused  by  Niccol6's 

w  ^  H- 1^^®  ^^^^  ^^  ^^^®  ^^^  ^^^®  ^^  ^®  CasteUo  Vecchio, 
h  ^°  ^nvenuto  being  the  architect.  The  work  was  completed 
by  uie  end  of  December,  when  the  Duke  and  Duchess  took  up  their 
residence  there.    Caleffini,  MS,  ciL,  ff .  291^,  301;. 

inis  Isabella,  the  daughter  of  Niccol6  d*  Arduino,  married  a 
certain  Jacomo  Mainente  of  Ferrara.  Three  months  after  their 
mamage  this  child  Giulio  was  bom,  whom  the  Duke  acknowledged 
and  brought  up  as  his  son.  (Caleffini,  MS.  ciL,  f .  32,  the  passage 
Demg  apparently  an  interpolation  by  Giujio  Mosti.) 

151 


li   .'< 


Lvi  I 


DUKES   AND   POETS   IN    FERRARA  ^^5^ 

gradually  grew  to  be),  heroically  brave  and  steadfii^y^^^^^|\  | 
times  of  stress  and  danger,  a  tender  and  affectionate  ^^^^^^^'^y^ 
(she   treated   Ercole's   illegitimate   daughter  L^crez^^^''^^^^^^||| 
though  she  were  her  own  child,  and,  in  later  years,  *^^^^^^^^  ^  ^^///'^  ^ 
care  for  Giulio*s  interests),  kind  and  gracious  to  her  ^^^^  4(  10as 
and  inferiors,  the  first  Duchess  of  Ferrara  is  one  of  the  ^  ^  ^^^  /T^ 
figures  of  women  that  ItaUan  history  has  to  show  us^^^^^^.5^/   ) 
Duke,  as  years  went  on,  grew  more  and  more  to  re^/^^^^^^^"^   i 
her,  to  look  to  her  for  strength  and  resource  at  his  ik^^^^  --^"^ 

It  is  tempting  to  Unger  over  the  collection  of  hi'"^=^^^     ^^^ 
to  her,  which  are  still  preserved  in  Modena.     Later  ^^f  ^^^ 

deal  with  other  themes ;   the  intrigues  and  perpJVs^^^^^^^^ 
the  Court  of  Milan ;    the  affairs  of  their  sons.        "But  evea 
those  in  these  first  years  of  their  married  life        show   the 
complete  confidence  the  Duke  had  in  her.     In  hisi.     numerous 
absences  from  the  capital,  she  is  the  ruler  of         tlie^  Sf  f 
though  in   difficult  emergencies  she  has   to     ^:^:onsuIt    h 
brother-in-law,   the   most    illustrious   Messer      Sigism      a 
"  There  is  no  need  for  your  Ladyship  to  make  ^^jiy  excu      »'» 
Ercole  writes  to  her  once,  when  the  Duchess  h^^^  f oru/     Ar^ 
a  letter  from  Messer  Alberto  Cortesi,  the  ^^^r-^^^j. 
at  Venice,  which  she  says  she  has  opened  by  ixix'stai:e  •    **      ^^ 
know  well  that  you  can  open  all  our  letters  attid  <io'  " 

think  fit,  for  we  are  right  well  content  ther^iat  •  r>  ^  ^^ 
do  well  to  send  off  those  which  you  can  dispatch  '*  ^^ 
us."  ^    As  Lent  comes  on,  being  away  at  ReggfQ    »  ^ 

her  to  look  to  the  protection  of  the  Jews  in  Ferrara  ^^^ 
caution  the  preachers  not  to  excite  the  popu^lg^^  .  ^ 

them  in  their  sermons  : —  '^^anst 

"  It  sometimes  happens,"  he  writes,  "  in  Season^  i^i, 

*  Letter  of  July    i6,  1479.     Archivio    di  Modena.     r^ 
Principi.  •    ^^^^ggio  dei 

152 


UNDER  THE   SCEPTRE   OF   ALCIDES 

that  the  preachers  who  preach  in  the  churches  of  the  city 
urge  and  excite  the  people  to  hunt  the  Jews,  and  to  make 
them  go  to  hear  the  Word  of  God  against  their  will,  in  such 
wise  that,  on  account  of  what  these  say,  they  are  sometimes 
attacked.  Therefore,  your  Ladyship  had  better  have  them 
told  beforehand  that  they  must  behave  themselves  in  their 
preaching  in  such  a  way  that  these  Jews  of  ours  who  dwell 
in  our  dty  be  not  molested  nor  forced,  by  their  persuasions, 
to  go  to  hear  sermons,  and  that  they  be  not  interfered  with 
m  any  way  through  words  of  thehrs."  ^ 

Little  presents,  too,  from  time  to  time,  are  exchanged 
between  husband  and  wife  when  separated — sometimes 
rather  quaintly.  This  same  Lent,  for  instance,  Leonora 
sends  him  an  egg  of  an  ostrich — ^perhaps  a  new  acquisition 
to  his  menagerie  in  the  Barco— forgetting,  apparently,  that 
the  Duke  keeps  very  strict  rules  about  fasting.  Ercole 
thanks  her  in  his  reply,  but,  because  he  wants  her  to  "  enjoy 
it  for  love  of  us,"  sends  it  back  to  her ;  "  and  especially 
because  now,  as  you  know,  we  do  not  eat  eggs,  and  if  it  were 
kept  till  Easter,  we  beUeve  that  it  would  not  keep  good. 
But  even  if  we  ate  them  at  present,  we  had  much  rather 
that  you  should  enjoy  it  than  us."  * 

Only  once  does  the  correspondence  reveal  a  misunder- 
standmg  m  these  years,  and  then,  though  it  appears  a  very 

P.1-  H^^i^^bruary  26,  1479.  Archivio  di  Modena,  Carieggio  dei 
Pniwtpf .  Ercole  took  a  strong  line  in  protecting  the  Jews  through- 
^1^1   ^  ^™S  ^^  carnival  of  1480,  a  scholar  from  ForU 

moruily  wounded  a  Jew,  the  son  of  the  Salomone  ah^ady  men- 
Uoned,  and  was  hanged  in  chains  from  a  window  of  the  Palazzo  della 
K^one,  to  the  great  indignation  of  the  people.  When  in  October, 
Ch^^  ^^  ^"^  ^P^"^^^  ^^*  ^®  Ferrarese  Jews  had  crucified  a 
cnnsuan  child,  Ercole  had  the  accusation  fully  investigated  and 
proved  to  he  false.  Caleffini,  MS.  dt.,  ff.  341;.,  ^7, 
Pf'tTM  ^^^^  ^'  ^^^^'     ^^^^°  ^  Modena,  Carieggio   dei 

153  L 


DUKES   AND   POETS   IN    FERRARA 


trivial  matter,  the  Duke  thinks  it  of  sufl&cient  imp(» 
to  write  her  a  letter  of  remonstrance — sl  charming  1^ 
its  way — in  his  own  hand  : — 

"  Most  loving  Lady  mine, 

"  I  have  been  told  that  your  Ladyship  is  angry 
keepers  of  the  stable,  because  I  have  brought  away 
me  a  palfrey  of  yours,  without  your  leave.     I  am 
to  have  done  anything  that  displeases  you ;   but 
never  have  beUeved  that,  for  so  Uttle  a  thing,  y<^ 
have  taken  it  ill,  especially  as  the  horse  is  not  gooc^ 
nor  for  any  woman  that  you  have.    This  alone  ( 
me,  that  I  beUeved  that  I  had  more  authority  with 
I  have,  and  that  if,  instead  of  bringing  it  solely  iov<^ 
personal  use,  I  had  given  it  away,  you  would  not  fc^ 
anything  but  that  I  had  done  well — as  you  can  do  ^^ 
things.     If  you  had  taken,  not  merely  a  horse  thsLt:  is  -worUi 
twenty-five  florins,  but  anything  that  I  have,  I  coiild.  Ixave 
said  nothing  but  that  it  was  well  done.     However  ,  1  teVl  you 
that  the  horse  is  here,  sound,  and  if  you  want  it, 
for  I  shall  send  it  to  you  at  once  ;  or  if  you  wan 
that  I  have.    I  shall  never  think  that  I  have 
possession  with  you  ;  because  I  wish  all  that  belotigs  to 
to  be  as  much  yours  as  it  is  mine.    To  your   Ladyshio  1 
commend  myself.    Written  with  my  own  hand  sit  Medelan 
on  the  twelfth  day  of  August,  1481. 

"  Hercules  Duke  of  Fie:ri^^j^  i,  ^ 

Meanwhile,  in  the  general  break  up  of  the  Tfoi,- 

that  foUowed  the  assassination  of  Giuliano  de'  M #>^,-^-  . 

-^'^Aticiici  in  the 
Duomo  of  Florence  on  Simday,  April  26,  1478,  E^o  1     k 

*  Archivio  di  Modena,  Carteggio  dei  Principi^ 
154 


UNDER  THE  SCEPTRE   OF   ALCIDES 

taken  the  field  against  his  suzerain,  Pope  Sixtus,  and  his 
father-in-law,  King  Ferrante.  He  accepted  the  baton  of 
command  from  Lorenzo  de'  Medici,  as  Captain-General  of 
the  League  that  defended  Florence  from  the  allied  powers  of 
Rome  and  Naples  (led  by  Duke  Alfonso  of  Calabria,  Leon- 
ora's brother,  and  Federigo  da  Montefeltro,  Duke,  since  1474, 
of  Urbino),  and  he  invaded  the  Sienese  territory.  Suffer- 
ing from  ill-health,  dreading  Neapolitan  poison  and  hardly 
working  in  harmony  with  his  colleague,  the  Marquis  of 
Mantua,  full  of  superstitious  apprehensions  (the  sainted 
nun  of  his  House,  Beata  Beatrice  d'  Este,  had  cried  aloud 
from  her  tomb,  and  he  himself  had  seen  a  vision  while  sleep- 
ing in  his  tent),  Ercole  gamed  but  httle  honour  in  this  war, 
and  his  good  faith  had  been  questioned.^  And,  in  fact, 
save  for  the  diplomatists  on  either  side,  there  was  no  honour 
to  be  gained.  The  members  of  the  League  were  divided 
against  themselves ;  Mantuans  and  Ferrarese  had  come  to 
blows  in  the  camp,  andErcole's  Ufe  had  been  endangered  in 
their  brawls ;  Venice,  disliking  the  Florentme  choice  of 
Ercole  as  General,  had  been  sparing  in  sending  men  and 
money ;  the  Milanese  contingent  had  been  recalled  to  protect 
the  Duchess  Bona  from  a  sudden  invasion  by  Lodovico 
U  Moro  and  Roberto  da  San  Severino.  Ercole  himself  was 
forced  to  hasten  to  Pavia  to  repel  them ;  but  found  that 
Bona  had  made  peace  with  Lodovico— that  fatal  peace 
which  was  to  cost  her  young  son  his  duchy,  if  not  his  Ufe. 

Durmg  Ercole's  absence  from  the  seat  of  war,  and  on 
precisely  the  same  day  as  Bona's  surrender,  September  7, 
i479»  the  only  really  reputable  faUo  tC  armi  in  the  campaign 
was  fought ;  the  Dukes  of  Calabria  and  Urbino  together 
gamed  a  complete  victory  over  the  Florentines  and  their 

y^^)^^'  ^'^  ^*  ^'^^  J'^P''  rnini/Wo,  ii.  p.  36  ;  Machia- 
vein,  istme  FtorenHne,  viii 

155 


DUKES   AND   POETS   IN   FERRARA 

allies,  under  Sigismondo  d*  Este  and  Costanzo  Sforza,at 
Poggio   Imperiale  near    Poggibonsi.    This  is  the  battle 
recorded  with  so  much  mediaeval  pomp  and  quaint  cir- 
cumstance in  the  fresco  by  Giovanni  di  Cristofano  and 
Francesco  d'  Andrea  in  the  Palazzo  Pubblico  at  Siena, 
where    the   Sienese   are    represented   as   pla}ang  a  pro- 
minent part  in  the  storming  of  the  camp  of  the  League. 
It  is  somewhat  exaggerated  in  Boiardo's  Italian  eclogues 
— in  which  the  whole   credit  of  the  action  is  assigned 
to  Alfonso  of  Calabria.^    Galeotto  della  Mirandola,  Rodolfo 
Gonzaga  (younger  brother    of  the  Marquis  Federigo  oi 
Mantua),    and    Niccold  da    G^rr^gio,   were  among   the 
prisoners. 

In  the  meanwhile,  Leonora  ruled  the  duchy  with  dexterity 
and  abiUty,  but  appears  to  have  leaned  over  much  upon  the 
four  brothers  Trotti — Count  Paolo  Antonio,  the  ducal 
secretary,  Jacopo,  "who  is  always  near  Madama,'' 
Galeazzo  and  Branddigi.  "  They  were  at  this  time  the 
chief  men  of  Ferrara/*  writes  Caleffini,  "  and  almost  more 
esteemed  than  our  Lord  Duke  Messer  Ercole  and  all  the 
others  of  the  most  illustrious  House  of  Este."  He  implies 
that  they  made  themselves  wealthy  by  unlawful  means.* 
The  result  was  that  the  Court  spUt  into  two  factions,  for 
and  against  the  Trotti. 

A  most  unfortunate  consequence  of  this  war  for  Ercole 
— and  one  fated  to  prove  disastrous  in  the  future — ^was  the 

^  "Tra  tante  alte  vittorie  una  ne  d  tale 
Che  non  se  amenta  in  terra  la  magiore  : 
II  Leon  vero,  e  questo  altro  da  1*   ale. 
La  Vipera  sublime  e  il  sacro  Ocelo 
Sconfisse  insieme  a  Poggio  Imperiale." 
Ed,  ii.   50-54-     Cf.  Ea.  X.  1 21-126;  Orlando   Innamorato,  IL 
xxvii.  57. 

»  MS.  cit.,  f.  34. 

156 


UNDER  THE  SCEPTRE   OF  ALCIDES 

Pope's  displeasure.  Sixtus  regarded  his  9onduct  as  an 
act  of  rank  rebellion  in  a  vassal  of  the  Church.  "  I  know," 
wrote  Battista  Bendedei,  one  of  Ercole's  agents  in  Rome, 
"  that  his  Holiness  appears  to  be  more  wroth  with  your 
Excellence  than  with  any  one  else,  and  even  more  than  with 
the  Florentines.'"  In  August,  the  Pope  prepared  a  tre- 
mendous BuD  against  "  that  son  of  iniquity,  Ercole  of  the 
Marquesses  of  Este,  whom  of  late  we  decorated  with  the 
ducal  title  and  honour,  and  constituted  Vicar-General  in 
temporal  things  in  our  dty  of  Ferrara  and  its  county  and 
district."  In  it,  Ercole  is  declared  a  rebel  and  a  perjured 
traitor ;  he  has  merited  the  major  excommunication  with 
the  forfeiture  of  his  ducal  dignity,  his  vicariate  and  all  his 
fiefs ;  and,  with  his  sons  and  nephews,  is  incapable  of  obtain- 
ing these  or  similar  in  the  future.  The  vicariate  having  thus 
come  to  an  end,  Ferrara  and  all  its  district  has  devolved  to 
the  Church.  All  Ercole's  subjects  are  released  from  their 
aUegiance,  and  bidden  to  recognize  the  Pope  alone  as  their 
unmediate  Lord  and  Superior.* 

Hearing  of  what  was  preparing,  Luca  Pasi  sought  an 
audience  of  the  Pope,  and.  prostrate  at  his  feet,  implored 
hrni  not  to  do  the  Duke  this  shame,  urging  him  by  every 
argument  he  could  muster  not  to  publish  the  Bull.  "  Messer 
Luca,"  said  his  Holiness,  « the  Duke  could  have  sent  his 

iSrS'*?^'^*'°^'^*y^«''479.  Balan,v.p.294. 
(Sixti  oua^  D  »  '7,  1479,  in  Archivio  Vaticano,  xxxi.  62 
of  «cS^5^  "  ^''^  *■'"'*'').  fi-  =«i8-"i«'-  A  Similar  Bull 
Galeotto  Ma„^°°  ^*^  deprivation  against  Roberto  Malatesta, 
Sforia  is  dat»7A  '  ^*°'"o  M^^a  degU  Ordelaffi  and  Costanzo 
Ercole  is  Sd  "l^V^  ^^''V*>  ^'y^-iHv).  The  BuU  against 
Althonrt  n^  ^  Theiner,  Codex  DipiotmUicus,  iii.  coU.  501-503- 
prSt  r?  ^^y  Published,  it  is  cited  by  Pope  Julius  II  as  a 
to  August  15,     ^"^^  ^^  o*  excommunication  against  Alfonso  I 

157 


DUKES    AND    POETS     IN 

received  him  on  May  ii.  His  Holiness  ] 
indignation  against  Ercole,  not  so  m 
entered  into  the  League,  as  for  his  ha' 
against  him.  "  For  m5rself,"  he  said,  ' 
the  honour  of  God  is  concerned."  He  pj 
never  made  this  war  against  the  Florentir 
Lorenzo  de*  Medici  and  his  acconiplice 
Church  and  of  God,"  and  because  of  th< 
been  done  and  said,  which  for  the  honoui 
been  able  to  endure.  He  did  not  deny 
times  been  greatly  moved  to  anger  by  th( 
he  had  aided  Lorenzo  and  assailed  the  Pen 
He  could  never  excuse  him  for  having,  co 
gation  of  his  oath  of  fidelity,  taken  up 
Church,  even  though  he  had  entered  the  1 
ever,  finally  accepted  his  excuses,  pardoni 
gave  his  benediction,  but  added  a  solem 
the  Duke  remember  that  the  House  of  I 
everything  to  the  Church,  and  not  make  £ 
another  time  his  Excellence  made  a  leagu 
that  kind,  let  it  always  be  with  the  stipulai 
arms  against  the  Church.  Otherwise  he  \^ 
evil  end.*  The  same  day  the  Pope  informed 
League  between  the  Church  and  Venice. 

Ercole  had  already  received  the  notifica 
League  of  "  the  Serenity  of  the  Doge  with 
our  Lord  "  from  his  ambassador  in  Vmce 
Cortesi,  and  from  the  beginning  he  realize< 
danger.  He  had  sent,  dated  April  28,  a  m 
Battista  Bendedei,  informing  him  of  the  mat 

*  Dispatch  of  Bendedei  to  Ercole,  May  n,  1480. 
295. 

160 


DUKES   AND   POETS   IN 

that  he  had  better  do  nothing  in  this  r 
more  intimate  with  the  Pontiff  and  the 
Meanwhile,  Ercole  prudently  strengi 
by  arranging  the  marriages  of  his  two  le 
Isabella  and  Beatrice,  to  Gian  France* 
son  of  the  Marchese  Federigo  of  Mar 
Sforza  "  il  Moro,"  who  was  now  virtual 
of  Milan.  At  the  same  time  the  young 
was  betrothed  to  Isabella  of  Aragon,  di 
of  Calabria  and  niece  of  Ercole's  wife, 
ill^timate  daughter,  had  been  already  p 
Bentivoglio,  the  eldest  son  of  his  friend 
Bentivoglio.*  At  the  beginning  of  J 
ambassador,  Zaccaria  Barbaro,  attempt 
to  enter  into  the  League  with  Venice 
the  Duke  declined,'  and,  in  the  follo^ 
the  post  of  Lieutenant-General  of  t 
Naples,  Milan  and  Florence,  with  the 
50,000  ducats  of  gold  in  time  of  peace  a 
war.*  This  same  summer  he  receivec 
Edward  IV  of  England,  who  invested 
of  the  Garter.  In  September,  Sigismor 
Ercole's  marriage,  was  bom,  and  nam 

^  Ibid.,  Minute  Ducali,  May  15  and  May  ic 

>  A  dispensation  had  to  be  obtained  fi 
marriage,  because  of  the  spiritual  affinity  of 
having  been  the  godfather  of  Annibale.  S 
The  Bentivoglio  were,  strictly  speaking,  not 
simply  the  chief  citizens  of  the  Bolognese 
the  correspondence  between  Ercole  and  ( 
always  styled  Magnificence — never  Excellen 

'  "  Habiamo  pocha  voglia  de  impaciarse  c 
Ercole  to  Giovanni  Bentivoglio,  June  3,  14) 
pra)rs  Bentivoglio  to  keep  this  a  strict  secret 

*  Dallari,  p.  41,  note. 

162 


DUKES   AND    POETS     IN     J 

greatly  appraise  my  words.  I  do  not  ^wrr 
seek  human  praises,  nor  because  I  take  pj 
but  to  show  you  my  reason  for  thus  kee 
country,  in  order  that  you  may  know  that  . 
because  I  know  that  I  am  doing  a  thing  j 
God,  and  more  salutary  to  myself  and  to  i 
neighbours." 

Other  things  than  preaching  excited  the 
Ercole  just  then.  There  was  marching  to  and 
**  daily  cast  of  brazen  cannon,  and  foreign  m 
ments  of  war,'*  much  "  post-haste  and  romagc 
Yet  were  there  some  few  that  hearkened, 
business  of  his  Order,  the  young  Friar  was  trai 
Po  in  a  small  ship  towards  Mantua,  and  a  par 
were  on  board,  gambling  and  blaspheming  ; 
turned  to  them  and  admonished  them,  whe 
fell  at  his  feet,  imploring  pardon.  But  a  terribli 
war  and  disaster  was  about  to  burst  over  Ferr^ 
House  of  Este ;  already  people  were  leaving  tl 
Studio  was  closing,  and  the  convent  of  the  Ar 
then  outside  the  walls,  was  threatened.  Savonai 
vincial  sent  him  to  Florence  before  the  end  of  the 
he  never  saw  Ferrara  again. 

^  Letter  from  Pavia,  January  25,  1490  (LeUere  ined\ 
Girolamo  Savonarola,  ed.  P.  Vincenzo  Marchese.  Archii 
Ilaliano,  Appendix,  vol.  8,  p.  1 11). 


164 


DUKES   AND   POETS     IN     1 

cupidity  of  enriching  himself  at  the  expens 
the  former  he  was  urged  on  by  Virginia 
been  deprived  of  his  fiefs  of  Alba  and  T 
Abruzri.  After  the  peace  of  1480,  Girolan: 
to  punish  Costanzo  Sforza,  the  Lord  of  Pesa 
ance  to  Lorenzo  de'  Medici,  and  Ercole's  pro: 
instrumental  in  enabling  Sforza  to  checkma 
Already  master  of  Imola,  Girolamo,  after  tl 
degU  Ordelaffi,  had  occupied  Forli,  and  he 
investiture  of  that  papal  fief  from  Sixtus. 
successor  of  Pino,  Antonio  Maria  degli  Orde 
mate  son  of  Pino's  brother  Cecco,  took  refug 
territory,  and  was  kindly  received  by  Erco 
him  an  annual  provision  and  left  him  free  to  gi 
Bagnacavallo,  whence,  with  the  aid  of  Galeoti 
Faenza,  he  could  plot  to  recover  his  State. 

And  Girolamo  could  safely  count  on  winning 
second  his  desires.  Sixtus  dreaded  the  Aragon^ 
Naples ;  he  was  readily  convinced  that,  even 
had  betrayed  him  in  the  matter  of  the  separate 
Lorenzo  de'  Medici,  so  now  he  had  betrayed  him 
would  desert  him  in  the  face  of  the  Turk.  He 
forgiven  Ercole  d'  Este  for  having  led  the  Florent 
late  war.  He  was  further  exasperated  by  the  fac 
Duke  made  much  difficulty  about  paying  the  annu 
of  4,100  florins  to  the  Papal  Treasuiy,  was  always  i 
and  frequently  forbade  the  publication  of  the  paj 
in  his  dominions.  Even  while  the  forces  of  the  Chi 
the  Kingdom  lay  together  before  the  walls  of  ( 
Girolamo  had  determined  that  the  new  alli^ce 
Rome  and  Venice  should  be  turned  to  the  destrui 
Aragonese  rule  in  Naples.    And  he  had  a  temptir 

166 


DUKES   AND   POETS   IN    FERlF 

in  consequence  excommunicated  by  the  ^vi< 
Bartolommeo  della  Rovere,  who  was,  83  usi 
Rome.  G^ntarini  appealed  to  the  Duke,  ^^1: 
give  redress.  "Then,  Excellence,  I  shall  lea 
said  the  Venetian.  "  Your  Magnificence  ivill  i 
open,"  answered  Ercole.  Contarini  took  liim 
upon  which  a  ducal  secretary  was  promptly  se: 
to  apologise.  The  Doge  summoned  the  Ke 
bassador,  Alberto  Cortesi,  to  the  Consiglio  < 
and  gave  a  peremptory  intimation  to  the  Duke 
revoke  the  excommunication  and  reinstate  the 
to  compensate  him  and  make  an  example  of  all 
and  to  observe  the  conventions  for  the  future. 
of  Ferrara  disavowed  the  action  of  his  vicar,  and  i 
Venetians  that  the  Pope  was  very  much  display 
excommunication,  and  had  professed  himself  on 
the  Republic.  Ercole  yielded ;  the  Visdomino 
furious  and  arrogant,  threatening  deadly  venge* 
Jacopo  Trotti  and  his  brothers,  to  whom  he  asc 
slight  that  had  been  put  upon  him.^ 

These  negotiations  were  still  in  progress  when,  h 
days  of  the  siege  of  Otranto,  Girolamo  Riario  lef\ 
magnole  dominions  and  set  out  in  person  for  Yen 
his  way  he  visited  the  Duke  of  Urbino,  who,  old  as 
was  still  reckoned  the  first  soldier  of  Italy,  and 
Malatesta,  Lord  of  Rimini,  who  held  the  office  of  ( 
General  of  the  Venetian  army.  The  latter  he  foin 
but  the  Duke  (who  was  Roberto's  father-in-law, 
personal  foe)  indignantly  rejected  his  overtures 
abandoning  his  habitual  sphinx-like  calm,  gave  free 

^  Romanin,  iv.  pp.  402,  403  ;    Frizzi,  iv.  pp.  117,  118 
i.  pp.  21-23. 

168 


DUKES    AND    POETS   IN    FERRAl 

obtain  a  much  fuller  compensation  from  the  iv 
Neapolitan  Kingdom.^  The  more  pradent  men 
Council  misliked  it,  and  distrusted  the  Pope 
were  overruled.  It  was  decided  to  accept  th 
and  Girolamo,  loaded  with  honours,  returned  to  ¥ 
Ferrarese  orator  informed  his  master  that  t 
miserly  conduct  in  giving  no  gratuities  of  any  ki 
arrogant  manner  in  accepting  the  honours  that  tt 
awarded  him,  had  displeased  everybody  ;  *  bui 
was  delighted  at  his  nephew's  reception  and  at  i 
of  the  mission,  and  wrote  an  enthusiastic  letter 
to  the  Doge,  hinting  not  obscurely  that  he  woul 
opportunity  of  showing  his  gratitude.* 

In  October,  Antonio  Maria  degli  Ordelaffi  mac 
successful  attempt  to  surprise  Forli,  with  the  aid  o 

^  Cf.  Sigismondo  de'  Conti,  i.  p.  1 19 ;  Piva,  i.  p.  53.  In 
1480,  Girolamo  had  first  suggested  to  2^ccaria  Baxbaro 
tian  orator  in  Rome,  his  plan  for  the  expulsion  of  the  King 
but  Barbaro  was  told  to  exhort  the  Count  to  keep  this 
idea  to  himself.  In  the  following  May,  it  had  been  run: 
Girolamo  was  coming  to  Venice,  and  Ercole  had  instruc 
to  keep  his  eyes  open ;  but  the  Signoria,  seeing  that  the  1 
alarmed,  had  persuaded  him  to  defer  his  visit.  See  the 
cited  by  Piva,  i.  pp.  45,  48-50.  The  statement  often  ma 
bargain  struck  by  the  high  contracting  conspirators  had  fo 
the  division  of  the  dominions  of  the  Estensi,  the  Veneti 
Modena  and  Reggio,  and  Riario  having  Ferrara  itself,  apj 
contradicted  by  the  documentary  evidence.  The  Pope 
were  equally  bent  upon  the  destruction  of  the  King  of  Na 
the  surrender  of  Ferrara  to  Venice  was  probably  the  nop 
addition  to  his  uncle's  scheme. 

>  Dispatch  of  September  22.  Piva,i.  p.  53.  The  Count 
on  September  16. 

"  Brief  of  September  19,  1481,  in  the  codex  of  the 
Naxionale  at  Florence,  which  Pastor  (ii.  p.  503,  note  2)  1 
must  have  come  from  the  Archivio  Vaiicano,  See  prei 
Appendix  II.,  document  3. 

170 


DUKES    AND    POETS    IN  FI 

it  promptly  and  at  the  usual  time  ;  he  m 
also  about  the  Jews ;  as  to  Forli,  his  mas 
"  You  can  say  what  you  like,"  interrupte< 
I  am  quite  certain  that  your  Duke  is  to  b 
however,  ready  to  proceed  no  further  in  th 
dition  that  Antonio  Maria  should  hencefon 
to  remain  in  the  Duke's  dominions.^ 

Thoroughly  alarmed,  Ercole  (who  had  on 
been  concerned  in  the  affair  of  Forli)  an 
and  his  accomplices,  instructed  Bendedei  U 
faction  on  every  point  to  the  Pope,  and  eve 
self  ready  to  hand  the  prisoners  over  to 
to  be  examined  with  torture  to  manifest  tin 
that  their  lives  were  spared.  Girolamo  dec 
longer  wanted  them  for  the  justification  < 
convinced  that  he  was  innocent,  but  tha 
them  in  his  hands,  to  be  put  to  death  as 
Then  Ercole  absolutely  refused  to  deliver  t] 
have  done  nothing  against  us,"  he  wrote,  " 
punishment.  So  that,  since  there  is  no  nee 
for  our  own  justification,  as  the  Lord  Count 
ledges,  we  must  pray  his  Lordship  to  excuse 
%end  them  to  have  them  executed,  because 
he  would  not  wish  us  to  stain  our  honour." 
further  persistence  from  Girolamo,  Ercole  d 
would  suffer  eternal  remorse  in  his  conscien 
surrendered  the  prisoners  or  put  them  to 

1  Dispatches  of  Battista  Bendedei,  November 
ber  25,  1 48 1.  Archivio  di  Modena,  Carteggio  degl 
Roma.  The  prompt  aid  given  by  Venice  to  the 
in  this  afEair  of  Forli,  had  further  cemented  thi 
aUiance.  See  brief  of  November  17  to  the  Do 
document  4. 

172 


DUKES   AND   POETS   IN   FERRAR 

he  will  not  have  prevented,  as  he  could  have  doi 
conflagration  that  we  see  is  rising  in  Italy,  that 
grant  that  it  be  not  the  ruin  of  this  miserable  It^ 
all  Christendom."  ^ 

At  the  beginning  of  April,  Roberto  da  San  Sevc 
had  broken  with  Lodovico  Sforza  and  had  been 
from  the  Duchy  of  Milan,  was  appointed  comman< 
Venetian  land  forces  for  the  enterprise,  with    tin 
Lieutenant-General  and  the  position  which  the  la 
lommeo  Colleoni  had  held.    The  Duke  of  Urbino  I 
ously  been  appointed  commander-in-chief  of  the 
the  League — Naples,  Milan  and  Florence — for  th 
of  Ferrara,  Ercole's  own  position  being  that  of  Li 
General.    The  Marquis  of  Mantua  and  Giovanni  B< 
were  naturally  on  the  same  side.     To  the  cause 
and  the  Pope  adhered  the  Republic  of  Siena,  the 
Savoy  and  the  Marquis  of  Montferrat,  the  Rossi 
(who  had  been  stirred  up  to  rebellion  against  Milan 
hard  pressed  by  the  ducal  troops  under  Gian  J  a 
vulzio),  and  (a  little  later)  the  RepubUc  of  Geno; 
when  war  actually  broke  out,  practically  the 
Italy  was  involved,  on  one  side  or  the  other. 

Hostilities  began  from  the  South.  In  the  middle 
Duke  Alfonso  of  Calabria  marched  into  theStat( 
Church,  and  demanded  a  passage  for  his  army  to 
for  the  defence  of  his  sister  and  her  husband  in 
simultaneously,  he  sent  troops  to  occupy  Marino  w 
held  by  his  allies,  the  Colonna.  On  April  i8,  i 
refused  the  passage,  and  in  a  brief  to  the  King  ord 
to  withdraw  his  forces,  lest  men  should  say  tha 

^  Minute  Ducaii  per  Roma  a  BaUista  Bendedei,  Februar 
Archivio  di  Modena,  he,  cit 

174 


DUKES   AND    POETS  IN  FERR*  ^^^^^^ 

under  Roberto  Malatesta — ^who  was  bitterly  iea  ^  ^  ^ 

honours  conferred  on  Roberto  da  San  Severiivo,  i 

that,  unless  more  respect  was  paid  to  his  dignity 

General,  he  might  not  be  able  to  take  the  ?i 

operate  in  Romagna,  assailing  the  Ferrarese  l^ 

that  side  and  keeping  the  passage  dosed  to  \ 

the  Duke  of  Calabria. 

On  May  12,  all  the  ambassadors  ot  tSie  "Lea. 
gether  to  the  Pope,  with  a  full  statement  oi  W 
form  which  amounted  to  a  declaratioxv  ot  ^w 
had  been  read  to  him,  Sixtus  said  that  tlie  1 
therein  were  worthy  of  the  greatest    oonsii 
asked  for  the  docimient,  in  order  better  to  e> 
parts  of  it.    The  ambassadors  answered    th.; 
not  wait  for  any  reply,  their  commissioii  l>eix 
leave  the  city.    The  Pope  expressed  his  regre 
his  foot,  and  departed  with  his   henedictic 
later,     Battista     Bendedei    and    Aniello     ^ 
Neapolitan  ambassador,  left  Rome     togeth 
Marino  for  supper,  "  where  we  were  right  g] 
by  those  Lords  of  the  Colonna  and  by  the  M 
da  Gennaro,  the  royal  commissary.**  * 

The  position  of  the  Pope  was,  to  say  tl 
peculiar  one.    He  regarded  himself   as   ass 
because  of  his  fidehty  to  the  Venetian   aT 
royal  attack  had  simply  forestalled  his   o\ 
the  Kingdom,  and  the  immediate  occasion 
been,  if  not  his  own  direct  permission,  at  Ic 

^  Dispatches  of  Battista  Bendedei,  May   1 2  sliic 
former  inclosing  a  copy  of  the  document  tlia.t  "wa 
Archivio  di  Modena,   Carteggio  degli     ^tnbasc, 
Ferrarese  orator  accompanied  Aniello  to  iMsiples 
to  Rome  for  a  while  as  a  private  person. 

176 


DUKES   AND   POETS   IN  FERRAl 

daws  of  the  winged  Lion  could  clutch.  Theg 
was  along  the  Po,  where  the  Duke  of  Urbino  wi 
of  the  League,  including  a  strong  Milanese  cont 
Trivulzio  and  aided  by  the  Marquis  of  Mant 
endeavouring  to  support  the  Ferrarese  ca 
definitely  breaking  with  Venice,  contested  1 
advance  stubbornly.  Before  the  end  of  Ma 
army  had  encamped  before  Ficarolo,  and  the  ^ 
under  Damiano  Moro,  arrived  at  the  point  ^ 
divides  and  goes  towards  Ferrara. 

This  conjunction  of  the  fleet  and  army  < 
struck  terror  into  the  hearts  of  the  Ferrares 
famine  seized  upon  the  city.  The  people  h 
the  blame  for  their  sufferings  upon  the  hated 
Antonio  and  Jacopo  and  their  brothers,  to  ^ 
and  policy  the  whole  war  was  ascribed.  "  : 
cupidity  and  avarice,"  writes  Calefiini,  "  i 
that  they  would  have  crucified  Christ  anoth 
money ;  and  the  Duke  saw  and  heard  nothing 
wanted,  and  if  any  one  of  them  was  ill,  the  D 
with  them,  and  it  was  thought  that  these  i 
witched  him."  To  appease  the  popular  fu 
deprived  Jacopo  of  his  office  of  Judge  of  the 
him  as  ambassador  to  Milan  ;  but  the  mere  i 
brother,  Brandehgi,  with  the  Duchess  at  one 
of  the  Castello,  raised  a  tumult  which 
the  ambassadors  of  the  League  had  only  q 
utmost  difficulty.^  Ercole  now  tried  to  alls 
appointing  six  Ferrarese  citizens  as  Savii  di 

1  Calefl&ni,  Croniche  del  Duca  Ercole,  ft.  40-z^ 
had  married  a  daughter  of  Folco  da  Villanova,  L 
and  had  inherited  his  palace  in  the  Borgo  Nuov 

178 


DUKES   AND   POETS   IN  FERRi^ 

Milan.^  The  fighting  was  incessant,  but  less 
the  fever  and  pestilence  that  set  in,  both  on  t 
in  the  camps.  The  Duke  of  Urbino  broke  doM 
More  and  the  pfoweditore  with  the  land  ar 
Loredan,  both  sick  to  death,  went  back  to  V 
five  weeks'  si^e,  the  fortress  was  taken  by  stor 
of  June,  in  the  sight  of  the  forces  of  the  Leagu 
which  were  powerless  to  aid.*  All  the  heroic  ] 
perished ;  but,  what  with  the  fighting  and  t 
the  place  had  cost  the  Venetians  several  th 
In  the  light  of  his  subsequent  declarations,  it  ir 
that  the  Pope  professed  the  utmost  satisfactio 
of  the  fall  of  Ficarolo.^ 

The  whole  of  the  Ferrarese  territory  be 
now  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy.  On  A 
Venetians  appeared  before  the  walls  of  Rov 
the  citadel  was  held  by  Count  Niccold  Ariosti, 
ducal  captain  of  the  district,  with  a  mere  ha 
the  greater  part  of  them  sick  ;  resistance  bei: 
citizens  forced  the  Count  to  surrender  the  t 
Ferrarese  forces  were  now  withdrawn  from  t 
defence  of  Ferrara  itself. 

^  Letter  nominally  from  the  Duke  of  Milan  to  Xi 
1482,  in  Rosmini,  Vita  di  G.  /.  Trivulzio,  ii.  p.  93. 

'  Sanudo,  op.  cit.,  col.  1219,  makes  the  Duke  of 
witness,  but  he  had  already  left  the  seat  of  war. 
de*  Conti,  i.  pp.  128,  129,  and  Baldi,  Vita   e   fatt 
Monte feltro,  2nd  edition,  iii.  p.  216. 

*  Brief  of  July  6,  1482,  to  the  Doge  of  Venice,  in 
Biblioteca  NazionaU,  f .  3 1 3 .  In  the  same  brief.  Six 
Doge's  request  to  make  Federigo  da  San  Severing 
the  deadhest  foe  of  his  own  nephew  I)  a  Cardina,! 
1496,  preaching  upon  Amos  in  S.  Maria  del  Fior 
obstinate  defence  of  Ficarolo  with  the  Italian  collap>; 
of  Charles  VIII.  (Cf.  Villari  and  Casanova,  Sc 
scrim  di  Fra  Giroiamo  Savonarola^  p.  223.) 

180 


DUKES   AND   POETS    IN  FERl 

seemed  imminent ;  the  Pope  was  terrified  ;  < 
Rovere  and  the  ambassadors  of  Ferdinand 
advised  him  to  make  peace.  But  at  lengtt 
to  urgent  appeals  from  the  Pope  and  Girolamo 
Senate  ordered  Roberto  Malatesta  to  le; 
and  set  out  for  Rome,  with  all  his  army.^  C 
arrived  in  Rome,  acclaimed  by  high  and  low  a 
of  the  Church:  "This  is  he  that  shall  d 
shouted  the  crowd,  as,  handsome  and  smiling 
figure  in  his  glittering  armour,  he  rode  throi 
to  confer  with  the  Pontiff.  A  few  days  late 
forces  arrived,  and  the  banners  of  the  Pope  j 
floated  together  over  the  city. 

Malatesta  promptly  took  the  field  agai 
forces.  Alfonso  retreated  before  him,  and  tc 
position  with  his  artillery  near  the  Pontine  ] 
so-called  Campo  Morto,  between  Velletri 
Here,  on  August  21,  he  was  assailed  by  Mais 
pletdy  defeated,  himself  only  saved  from 
valour  of  his  Turkish  followers,  who  fell  in  h 
his  flight,  and  by  the  heroism  of  Anton 
Duke  of  Amalfi  and  nephew  of  Piu^  II,  w 
victorious  forces  at  the  head  of  his  squadron 
at  bay  until  Alfonso  had  made  good  his  esc 
Riario  kept  out  of  the  fighting,  on  the  plea  < 
standards.    There  was  a  triumphal  entry 

*  On  May  19,  Vettor  Soranzo  received  orders  frc 
his  fleet  to  attack  the  Kingdom.  The  Republic  pr 
reluctance  to  taking  Malatesta  away  from  the  eni 
but  at  length,  June  8,  gave  him  the  order  to  go  w 
and  a  month  later  sent  all  its  troops  from  Ronia{ 
to  Rome,  leaving  a  small  guard  of  mercenaries 
and  Forli  (Piva,  i.  pp.  95-104). 

182 


DUKES    AND   POETS    IN    Fl 

his  bedside,  to  administer  the  last  sacrame 
to  the  man  to  whom  he  owed  the  preserve 
and  upon  whom  he  had  been  building  up  £ 
triumphs  in  the  future.  The  next  day, 
he  legitimated  the  dead  hero's  sons,  an 
intention  of  investing  them  with  the  vi< 
under  his  protection.^  There  were  dark  w 
of  a  deadly  sequel  to  Count  Girolamo's 
victory  of  Campo  Morto ;  there  can,  h 
doubt  that  Roberto  had  died  from  purely 
On  the  same  day,  September  lo,  the 
of  the  League,  Federigo  da  Montefeltro, 
in  the  Duke's  rooms  in  the  garden  of  the 
before  his  death,  he  had  striven  to  bring 
had  been  in  negotiation  with  the  Pope 
Giuliano  to  that  end.^  He  is  said  to  hav( 
heart,  when  he  heard  of  the  victory  of  C 
his  last  hours  were  embittered  by  the  be 
Malatesta  intended  to  despoil  his  heir,  G 
Duchy  of  Urbino.  To  Isabella  da  Mont 
Federigo's  daughter  and  Roberto's  wife, 
simultaneously  the  deaths  of  father  and  h 
baldo  was  then  a  mere  child,  and  the  care  of 
devolved  upon  his  uncle,  Ottaviano  da  Mo] 
politician  of  ambiguous  reputation.  Tc 
wrote,  expressing  great  grief  at  the  death 

^  Briefs  to  the  Council  and   Commune  of   '. 

Doge  of  Venice,  September  1 1 ,  1482.     Archivio  1 

ft.  43-46. 

*  Brief  of  September  3,  1482.    Ibid.,  ff.  32,  -■ 
3  Sigismondo  de'  Conti,  i.  p.  145.      Zambottc 

the  lying  in  state  of  Federigo  at  Ferrara.  The  ui 

he  died  at  Bologna»  is  erroneous. 

184 


DUKES   AND    POETS   IN  FERR 

light-armed  Albanians,  he  suffered  ultimate] 
defeat,  and  fled  back  to  Argenta  with  a  handf i 
Venetians  took  seven  hundred  prisoners,  incl 
San  Severino  (one  of  the  condottieri  of  the  D 
and  Niccolo  da  Correggio.  These  they  se 
paraded  in  triumph  through  the  Piazza  di  S 
kept  rigorously  imprisoned. 

Prompt  succour  came  from  Milan  in  the  ] 
Jacopo  Trivulzio,  in  whom  Leonora  and  i 
greatest  confidence.  He  was  probably  th 
they  could  have  found,  to  defend  what  re 
duchy,  and  they  were  profuse  in  their  gratiti] 
of  Milan.^  Trivulzio  promptly  strengthene 
tions  of  Bondeno  and  Argenta,  and  w 
organizing  the  defence.  But  dissensions  s< 
With  all  his  undoubted  valour  and  military 
was  self-sufficient  and  choleric,  could  brool^ 
and  would  not  work  with  the  other  Milar 
who  arrived  upon  the  scene  a  little  later, 
with  Sforza  Secondo,  an  illegitimate  broth 
and  openly  showed  his  contempt  for  th- 
Sigismondo  d'  Este.  "  Let  us  remind  y 
Duke  of  Milan,  or  Lodovico  in  his  name, 
most  illustrious  Lord  Messer  Sigismondo  i 
authority  that  he  has,  you  must  pay  him  i 
and  generally  comport  yourself  towards 
discretion  and  modesty  as  we  are  certain  ] 
in  the  same  way  with  the  Magnifico  Sfor: 
it  may  be  manifest  that  you  are  bent  up 
the  benefit  of  that  most  illustrious  Lord  the 

^  Cf.  documents  in  Rosmini,  op.  cit,,  ii.  pp.  9S 
*  Letter  of  November  28,  1482.     Rosmini,  op 

186 


DUKES   AND   POETS  IN  FERI 

somersault,  which  his  greater  nephew  was  to 
following  century — ^he  completely  changed  ] 
found  himself  threatened  from  the  north  v 
of  the  Council  of  Basle — this  being,  in  Mi 
phrase,  "  the  ecclesiastical  penalty  of  tempoi 
— ^and  realized  that  the  Venetians  were  bent 
acquisition  of  Ferrara.  The  orators  of  Lor< 
and  of  Milan  urged  him  to  make  peace  be 
late,  and  the  ambassadors  of  the  Cathol 
Spain  put  on  still  stronger  pressure.  The  Cj 
threw  his  influence  into  the  same  scale,  i 
held  out  for  a  while,  and  warned  the  Veneti 
in  progress.  The  Republic  instructed 
Francesco  Diedo,  to  dissuade  the  Pope  from  i 
the  King  of  Naples,  and  to  promise  the  ai< 
against  him.  But  Girolamo  was  bought 
promises  of  the  ambassadors  of  the  League 
to  have  included  (alas,  for  the  Pope's  { 
investiture  of  the  fief  of  Rimini,  the  patrii 
Malatesta,*    And  Sixtus  gave  way. 

Seeing  what  was  on  foot,  the  Venetians 
on  the  war  with  the  utmost  vigour,  if  pos 
acquisition  of  Ferrara  an  accomplished 
Pope's  tergiversation  became  definite  and 
November  20,  their  army  crossed  the  Po 
by  a  bridge  of  boats.  Trivulzio  drove  b; 
guard,  but  was  forced  to  retreat  be! 
nmnbers,  burning  the  fortifications  on 

^  Lorenzo  de*  Medici,  p.  195. 

8  Sanudo,  op.  cit.,  col.  1225  ;  Pastor,  ii.  p.  52 
in  Decembcar,  the  Venetians  offered  Faenza^ 
vallo  to  Riario,  to  keep  the  Pope  in  their  allia 
but  it  was  then  too  late. 

188 


DUKES   AND   POETS  IN  FERF 

room  where  the  Duke  lay  upon  a  bed,  "  witt 
with  his  beard  long,  and  he  could  hardly  s 
his  eyes."  For  more  than  an  hour  they  pa 
touching  his  hand,  going  in  at  one  door  and  c 
in  a  continuous  stream,  many  weeping  and  \ 
of  consolation.  At  last,  seeing  him  worn  out, 
that  some  people  came  through  more  than 
had  the  doors  closed.^  The  same  aftemoc 
Rinaldo  d*  Este  and  Francesco  Ariosti,  th 
into  the  piazza  in  arms,  and  professed  the 
sally  out  against  the  enemy  in  the  Barco ;  b 
forbade  it. 

On  the  same  day  as  the  passage  of  the  Vex 
ber  20,  Giovanni  Bentivoglio  wrote  to  I 
haste  and  exultation,  that  that  morning  a 
of  the  Cardinal  Gonzaga  had  arrived  ai 
came  from  Rome,  and,  under  pretext  of  g 
was  to  announce  to  Ercole  that  the  peac 
eluded  at  Rome,  and  to  encourage  him  to 
and  defend  himself  vigorously,  because  1 
his  preservation  and  that  of  his  Duchy. 
Francesco  Bdvisi,  a  servant  of  the  C 
arrived  at  Bologna,  and  came  on  at  on< 
assure  the  Duke  of  the  Pope's  good  dis 
him  and  his  State.*    All  now  depended  i 

^  Zambotto,  £E.  108-109.  "lo  steti  sempi 
vedere  tale  visitatione."  The  officials  aimed  a1 
are  obviously  the  Trotti.  A  few  days  later,  in 
representations,  they  were  secretly  sent  out  o 
laws  ascribed  to  them  were  cancelled,  tlie  ' 
property  by  having  it  conveyed  to  the  Castle 
confiscated.    Caleffini,  Croniche  del  IHica  Erco 

>  Dallari^  pp.  99,  100. 

190 


DUKES   AND    POETS  IN   ] 

to  the  defence  of  the  city  itself,  all  the 
and  the  other  captains  were  devoted  t 
on  the  one  side,  Bondeno  and  Stellata 
possession  of  these  two  fortresses  keepin; 
by  which  supplies  and  provisions  coulc 
the  districts  of  Modena  and  R^gio.  R< 
hurried  forward  from  Milan  and  Bolo 
who  had  been  deputed  to  guard  Aigenta, 
up  a  party  of  Albanians  and  Slavonian 
of  the  Venetians  with  Roberto  himsel 
their  advance,  but  lay  comparatively  ina 
and  Pontelagoscuro. 

The  condition  of  the  dty  was  terriblCj 
of  the  Ferrarese  grew  intense.  A  lai 
pleasure-loving  population,  which  had 
serious  experience  of  war  than  the  cc 
tumults  at  the  end  of  Borso's  reign  and  tl 
of  Niccold  di  Leonello,  found  itself 
the  walls,  decimated  with  pestilence,  r 
and  privation.  Homeless  fugitives  fi 
towns,  starving  peasants  from  the  < 
through  the  streets  with  their  families 
so  wasted  that  they  seemed  like  pan 
supplies  which  Leonora  had  obtained 
R^gio,  at  the  risk  of  a  revolution  ii 
altogether  inadequate  even  for  the  ne 
alone.  Ferrara  was  only  saved  from 
Pope  taking  the  final  plunge  that  left  1 
the  Duke  of  Calabria  to  come  to  her  aid. 

^  Sanudo,  op.  cit,,  col.  1224  ;  Sigismondo  de' 
two  surviving  mistresses  of  Niccol6  III.,  Cami 
Anna  de'  Roberti,  were  carried  oflf  by  the  pe 

192 


DUKES   AND   POETS   IN    FEI 

of  Modena.  To  judge  from  the  languag 
Father,  he  has  only  just  heard  of  the  dai 
has  instantly  joined  the  League  for  its  def 
moned  the  Doge  of  Venice  to  desist  from 
restore  what  he  has  taken,  and  embrace 
is  greatly  consoled  by  the  loyal  aid  of  the 
League  and  by  what  he  has  heard  of  the  trie 
Ferrarese  to  their  Duke,  whom,  together  w 
he  has  taken  under  his  special  protectio 
and  Duke  have  full  trust  in  his  Legate,  ^ 
them  with  spiritual  and  temporal  favours,  a 
the  Duke  that  he,  the  Pope,  is  entirely  bent 
and  the  reintegration  of  his  State.  "  Tl 
salvation  from  the  Lord,"  he  assures  Ei 
counsels  of  them  that  work  iniquity  shall  no 
us."  If  the  enemy  do  not  desist  from  he 
powers  of  the  Roman  Church  shall  be  tume 
Let  the  people  of  Modena  and  Reggio,  too,  k 
loyal  to  their  Prince,  "  whereby  you  will  o 
peace,  and  obtain  our  benediction  and  sp 
.  that  of  the  Apostolic  See."  * 

On  December  13,  Fra  Cherubino  daSpol 
great  sanctity,"  announced  the  peace  froi 
the  Duomo.  There  was  a  solenm  servic 
17th,  when,  in  the  presence  of  the  Duche 
bassadors  of  the  League,  the  friar  exhorte 
thank  God  upon  their  knees,  while  the  ban 
was  waved  over  their  heads.  The  banner 
in  procession  through  the  streets ;    bells  i 

*  Briefs  of  December  13  and  14, 1482.  Archit 
15,  ff.  244-248,  252,  253.  See  present  work,  A] 
ments  9,  10  and  1 1. 

194 


DUKES   AND   POETS   IN    ] 

so  meny  and  jovial  in  his  life/  The  p 
proclaimed  in  Rome  on  Christmas  Eve.  C 
by  Pontiff  and  people,  the  once  hated  an< 
of  Calabria  appeared  in  the  Eternal  Ci 
blessed  sword  from  the  hands  of  the  Pope, 
his  army  for  Ferrara.  At  the  b^;inning 
Cardinal  of  Mantna  made  his  state  ent 
in  the  name  of  the  Pope,  escorted  from 
Bentivoglio. 

In  the  meanwhile,  Sigismondo  de'  Con 
us  still  in  his  History  of  his  own  times,  a 
old  age  was  to  be  eternalized  in  Kapha 
Foligno — ^had  been  sent  from  the  Pope  to 
tians.  He  was  the  bearer  of  a  brief  froi 
Doge  and  a  letter  from  the  Cardinals,  in  wh 
were  urged  to  accede  to  "  this  holy  and  i 
to  lay  aside  their  arms  and  desist  from  the 
in  which  case  the  Pope  pledged  himself  to  se 
if  they  had  any  cause  of  complaint  agi 
Sigismondo  himself  spoke,  drew  a  piteous  pi 
plight,  assured  the  Senate  that  he  had  lea 
to  know  the  dignity  and  glory  of  Venice,  an 
diligently  cultivate  their  friendship  for  the 

But  the  Venetians  remained  steadfast, 
that  they  had  only  entered  into  the  war  at 
of  the  Pope  himself,  and  that  they  woul 

^  See  letter  of  Giovanni  Sabadino  degli  Ari 
December  20.  DaUari,  p.  102,  note  i.  Giovai 
fortnight  previously,  had  been  negotiating  wit! 
be  taken  into  their  pay  and  under  their  protectio 

^  Sigismondo  de'  Conti,  i.  pp.  158-164.  The 
ad  apicem  Summi  Apostolaius,  is  printed  in  Raynal 
Annali  and  elsewhere.  It  is  dated  Decemb^  i: 
Vaticano,  xxxix.  15,  flf.  239-241. 

196 


DUKES   AND    POETS    IN    I 

Their  ambassador,  Francesco  Diedo,  lei 
that  the  Republic  would  have  recourse  to 
if  a  Crusade  were  proclaimed  against  it. 
perhaps,  practicable,  even  at  that  epoch  ; 
had  sent  to  urge  the  Turk  against  Naples 
stirring  up  the  Swiss  against  the  Duchy  < 

On  January  15,  the  Duke  of  Calabria,  a 

of  the  League,  entered  Ferrara,  follow 

which  included  several  hundred   Turks  ta 

of  whom  the  greater  part  took  the  firs 

deserting  to  the  Venetians.    Gathering 

ties  within  the    city  that  Alfonso    had 

again  advanced  in  force  into  the  Barco,  an 

to  battle  ;    but,  meeting  with  no  response 

camp  at  Pontelagoscuro.    Florentine  and  ; 

came  next,  under  the  conunand  of  the  C01 

and  Virginio  Orsini.   A  number  of  unimpor 

ful  actions  all  along  the  line  raised  the  spirit; 

and  a  state  ball  was  given  in  the  Corte  Vec 

ary,  the  allied  princes — Ercole  himself,  ^ 

covered  his  health,  the  Duke  of  Calabria, 

(acting  always  in  the  name  of  his  hdples! 

the    titular   Duke   of   Milan),    Lorenzo   « 

Marchese  Federigo  Gonzaga  (who  now  firsl 

the  League),  and  Bentivoglio-^met  in  the  ] 

under  the  presidency  of  the  Cardinal  Gonza 

preservation  of  Ferrara,**  it  was  said,  "  de 

of  all  Italy."    It  was  resolved  immediat 

offensive,  and  to  reUeve  the  pressure  uj 

answers,  the  Pope's  rejoinder  and  the  Venetian  re] 
elegantissimaa  epistolae,  printed  by  William  Cm 
produced  in  facsimile  by  James  Hyatt,  with  an 
translation  by  G.  Bulleii  (London,  1892). 

198 


DUKES   AND   POETS    IN    I 

the  League,  or  the  reinforcements  neec 
defence  of  Ferrara  itself  and  the  sec 
the  fortress  which  was  regarded  as  the  ke] 

With  all  the  energy  of  his  nature,  the 
League  agauist  the  contumacious  Repu 
Powers  to  contribute  the  men  and  mo3 
mised,  insisting  upon  the  equipment 
of  a  powerful  fleet  to  assail  the  Venetia 
protest  before  God  and  men,"  he  wrot 
Naples,  "  that  if  anything  sinister  happei 
in  His  clemency  avert  I),  it  will  not  ha; 
fault.  All  wiU  impute  it  to  thy  Majest 
Duke  of  Milan  he  represented  Ferrara  as 
rest  of  Italy,  against  the  insatiable  lust  oi 
Venetians.  The  position  at  Pontelago 
strong  to  be  assailed,  the  only  chance  fc 
Ferrara  is  to  take  the  offensive  in  Lombai 
the  Duke  instantly  do.  Otherwise,  she 
the  Venetians  will  certainly  turn  their 
against  Milan.  Let  him  then  take  the  agg 
all  the  Powers  of  Italy  will  support  him,  w 
will  pursue  the  Venetians,  not  only  wit] 
but  with  censures  and  interdict.* 

This,  indeed,  was  the  point  to  whic 
Arlotti,  Bishop  of  Reggio  and  now  Ercol 
at  the  Vatican,  and  the  Count  Girolamo, 
all  his  old  hatred  of  Ferrara  and  Naples  i 
tians,  were  striving  to  bring  the  Pope, 
decisive  step.  On  May  24,  he  excommuni 
put  the  Republic  under  the  interdict,  in  thi 

*  Brief  of  March  17,  1483.     Archivio  Vaticano, 
»  Brief  of  April  21,  1483.    Ibid,,  ff.  511-513. 

200 


DUKES   AND   POETS   IN    F 

inmost  heart.    And  at  the  end  you  will 

him  that,  as  he  does  not  cease  from  fav 

with  spiritual  arms,  he  will  also  proceed 

succour  and  support,  even  as  in  both  resp 

by  sending  hither  his  men-at-arms,  and  doi 

that  are  expedient  for  our  safety ;  so  that 

that  we  are  aided  by  his  Holiness  in  ev 

held  back  and  may  know  their  error ;  an 

not  correct  themselves,  as  they  show  th 

their  unbridled  pride  and  ambition  may  I 

The  strained  state  of  the  Duke's  mind  ai 

of  his  situation  may  excuse  this  somei^ 

epistle.    The  Pope,  now  that  he  had  ona 

self,  was  bent  upon  doing  the  thing  tho 

canst  be  assured,"  he  wrote  to  Ercole,  " 

upon  nothing  more  than  upon  the  conserv 

of  ours,  upon  which  also  depends  the  saf( 

Italy."  *    He  sent  com  and  other  sup] 

kept  urging  on  the  Powers  to  move  with 

to  Ercole's  succour,  and  dispatched  the 

Venetians  to  all  the  sovereigns  of  Euroj 

have  it  pubhshed  and  carried  into  effect 

dominions.    ''  Unless  this  unbridled  lust 

coerced,"  he  wrote  to  the  Emperor,  "  we  s 

that,  even  as  they  occupy  our  cities  of  Ra\ 

Padua,  and  many  other  places  of  diverse 

will  reduce  Ferrara  to  their  t3nrannical  swa 

rest  of  Italy,  in  order  that  finally  they  ma 

Germany  and  the  other  emperies  of  Christ- 

^  Minute  Ducali  per  Roma  a  Buonftancesco  a 
Modena,  Carteggio  degli  Ambasdatori'-Roma. 
*  Brief  of  June  8,  1483.   Archivio  Vaticano,  xx 

202 


DUKES   AND    POETS   IN    FE 

Venetians  and  that  the  little   garrison  w^ 

he  sallied  out  of  Ferrara  at  the  head  of  his  r 

mounted  balestrieri,  took  the  enemy  in  the 

them  headlong  in  rout.    The  Venetian  s 

number  of  prisoners  were  captured.    The  d 

had  grown  pressing  again.    The  Pope,  d< 

Stellata  had  fallen,  it  would  have  been  all 

itself,  was  more  and  more  vehement  and 

appeals  to  the  Powers  of  the  League,  espe< 

Naples,  to  provide  Ercole  with  men  and 

urging  the  Duke  of  Savoy  and  King  Ferrj 

the   starving  Ferrarese  with  com  and  ] 

insisted  upon  the  Duke  of  Calabria  leaving 

returning  in  person  to  the  defence  of  F< 

complied ;  but  a  general  attack  upon  the  V 

at  Pontelagoscuro — ^to  which  the  Pope  ha 

generals — failed,  much  to  the  grief  of  his  He 

The  war  continued,  in  a  half-hearted  w 

any  important  action,  alike  in  Lombardy  ai 

mainland  and  in  the  Ferrarese  territory, 

spring  of  1484,  mainly  to  the  disadvantage  o 

Both  parties  were  growing  weary  of  the  wai 

taken  the  fatal  step  of  appealing  to  the 

Pope  had  written  to  the  King  of  Hunga 

instantly  to  invade  the  Venetian  territory  wil 

army.'    The  Venetians  had  invited  the  Dul 

renew  the  claims  of  the  Visconti  upon  Milai 

of  Bourbon  iii  the  name  of  Anjou  to  assai 

*  Various  briefs  of  September  17,  November  2, 1 
Afchivio  Vaticano,  xxxix.  16,  flf.  21,  68,  84V. 

*  Briefs  of  November  15.     Ibid,,  f.  71. 

*  Brief  of  March    10,  1484.     Archivio    Vatican 
49-50. 

204 


DUKES   AND   POETS    I^ 

Kingdom.  The  Venetians  took  advan 
secretly  to  offer  their  support  to  La 
sum  of  money  to  further  his  plans 
of  July,  Trivulzio  came  disguised  intc 
and  opened  negotiations  with  Robe 
on  Ijodovico's  behalf.^  The  captains 
the  potentates  could  only  send  theii 
the  conference  that  met  at  Bagnolo  in 
where  it  soon  became  evident  that  Loc 
tians  were  working  together,  and  thai 
would  have  to  go  to  the  wall. 

The  Pope  stormed  against  the  cessat 
the  conditions  proposed.  "  He  uses 
language  in  the  world/'  wrote  Arlotti  t 
that  he  has  been  deceived  and  betray 
if  all  the  aUies  and  the  captains  of  th 
that  even  a  dishonourable  peace  was 
would  not  take  the  responsibility  of  ale 

"  To-day  at  sunset,"  wrote  Lodovico  1 
on  August  7,  "  to  the  praise  and  glor 
the  peace  has  been  concluded  and  stip 
most  holy  and  most  serene  League  and 
Signoria  of  Venice,  which  we  hope  is  to  I 
and  bond  of  perpetual  quiet  and  rest  i 
Italy."  '  Venice  and  Naples  were  to 
places  they  had  lost  in  the  war,  as  ah 
possessions  of  the  Rossi  were  ceded  tc 
Roberto  da  San  Severino  was  to  be  Ca] 

1  Cf.  Rosmini,  op.  cit.,  i.  p.  137,  ii.  p.  126 ;  I 
295,  296. 

>  Dispatches  of  Buonfrancesco  Arlotti,  JuJ 
1484.     Archivio  di  Modena,  Cmieggio  degh  Am 

'  RoBznini,  op.  cit.,  ii.  p.  127. 

206 


DUKES   AND    POETS    IN    FERRARA 

gave  evasive  answers ;  but  Arlotti  passionately  protested 
against  the  way  in  which  the  Duke  of  Ferrara  had  been 
abandoned  by  his  allies,  and  that  he  had  only  3rielded  under 
compulsion.  "We  know,"  said  the  Pope,  "the  great 
prudence  of  the  Majesty  of  the  King,  of  the  Lords  of  Milan, 
the  Florentines  and  the  Duke  of  Ferrara,  the  experience 
and  sagacity  of  the  Dukes  of  Calabria  and  Bari,  who  have 
brought  this  about.  If  all  these  have  made  and  consented 
to  this  peace,  judging  it  to  be  the  better  part,  we,  who  have 
not  such  great  prudence  and  less  experience,  are  willing  to 
follow  them  and  agree  to  all  they  wish,  even  as  we  have  done 
during  the  war.  With  great  expense  to  ourselves  have  we 
carried  on  that  war  to  save  Ferrara,  and  to  please  the  Majesty 
of  the  King  and  the  other  allies,  and  so  were  we  ready  to 
continue.  Greatly  does  it  grieve  us  that  the  Duke  of 
Ferrara  has  not  more  grounds  for  content  and  satisfaction ; 
but  since  he  who  has  managed  this  affair  thinks  that  it  is 
necessary  so,  and  that  he  cannot  do  otherwise,  we,  together 
with  that  Duke,  shall  have  patience,  and  shall  consider 
that  everything  is  permitted  for  the  best  by  our  Lord  God, 
from  whom  cometh  all  good  and  nothing  evil."  ^ 

But  Sixtus  could  ill  dissemble  his  rage  and  indignation. 
When  the  other  ambassadors  left  the  room,  Arlotti  remained 
behind,  and  the  Pope  bade  him  comfort  Ercole  in  his  name, 
and  remind  him  that,  since  Ferrara  itself  was  saved,  time 
would  bring  new  remedies  and  resources.  That  same  night 
Sixtus  died,  denouncing  the  conditions  of  the  peace  with 
his  last  breath,  declaring  that  Lodovico  Sforza  was  a  traitor. 

*  In  consequence  of  the  great  interest  and  importance  of 
Arlotti's  dispatch  of  August  12,  I  give  the  fuU  text  in  Appendix 
II.,  document  14. 

'  Dispatch  of  Buonfrancesco  Arlotti,  August  14,  1484  (Archivio  di 
Modena,  lac.  cit,)  ;  Sigismondo  de'  Conti,  i.  p.  204. 

208 


DUKES   AND   POETS   IN    FERRARA 

There  were  magnifioent  festivities  in  Venice  at  the  begin- 
ning of  February,  1485,  to  celebrate  the  peace,  with  many 
days'  jousts  and  tournaments,  at  the  instance  of  Roberto 
da  San  Severino.    After  some  hesitation,  Ercole  accepted 
the  invitation  of  the  Signoria  to  be  present,  in  sign  of  amity 
and  complete  reconciliation,  and  was  greatly  gratified  at 
the  cordiality  of  his  reception.    On  the  afternoon  of  Febni- 
aiy  3,  he  arrived  by  water  from  Corlxda  at  Chioggia.    On  the 
way  the  Podesti  met  him,  and  welcomed  him  in  the  name 
of  the  Signoria,  and  when  he  landed  a  band  of  Venetian 
gentlemen  were  waiting  to  escort  him  to  the  palace  of  the 
town,  to  assure  him  of  the  great  expectation  that  all  Venice 
had  of  his  coming.    The  next  day  he  went  on  by  sea  to 
Malamocco,  where  he  dined,  and  was  greeted  by  more  Vene- 
tian  gentlemen   from   the   Signoria.    At   San    Clemente, 
the    Doge   and  Senators  came   in   the  state  Bucentaur, 
with  Roberto  and  Leone  da  San  Severino,  to  meet  and 
embrace  him.    Ercole  went  on  board  the  ducal  vessel, 
and,  surroimded  by  a  flotilla  of  smaller  ships,  they  brought 
him  to  his  own  palace  in  Venice,  "which  we  have  found," 
he  wrote  to  Leonora,  "  in  every  part  well  prepared,  adorned 
and  furnished  with  abundance  of  all  things  meet  for  our 
recq)tion    and    honourable    entertainment.      Verily,   the 
demonstrations  made  towards  us  up  to  now  could  not  have 
been  greater  nor  more  loving.    We  have  received  consolation 
and  comfort  therefrom,  and  we  gladly  share  them  with  your 
Lad3^hip."    He  spent  several  dajrs  at  Venice,  using  towards 
the  Doge  "  those  most  sweet  and  loving  words  that  were 
possible  to  us,  to  show  him  our  filial  observance."    Once 
"  we  went  to  Murano,  where  they  make  so  many  kinds  of 
right  beautiful  vessels  of  glass."    Every  day  he  was  with 
the  Doge  to  watch  the  jousts,  which  were  of  the  most 

210 


Chapter  VII 
IN  THE  LULL  BEFORE  THE  STORM 

THE  ten  years  that  follow  the  peace  of  Bagnolo  are  the 
most  splendid  in  the  history  of  the  Courts  of  the 
Italian  Renaissance,  before  the  terrible  wave  of  ultra- 
montane invasion  had  swept  over  the  Alps.  "  It  is  manifest," 
writes  Guicdardini  in  the  proem  to  his  history,  "  that,  since 
the  Roman  Empire,  weakened  chiefly  by  reason  of  the 
mutation  of  its  ancient  customs,  b^an  more  than  a  thousand 
years  ago  to  decline  from  that  greatness  to  which,  with 
marvellous  virtue  ahd  fortune,  it  had  ascended,  Italy  had 
never  felt  such  great  prosperity,  nor  experienced  so  desirable 
a  state,  as  was  that  in  which  she  reposed  in  security,  the  year 
of  Christian  Salvation,  1490,  and  the  years  which  inmiediately 
preceded  and  followed  that.  Evers^wrhere  she  was  restored 
to  perfect  peace  and  tranquillity ;  *  the  most  mountainous 
and  most  barren  places  were  cultivated,  no  less  than  the 
plains  and  more  fertile  regions ;  she  was  subjected  to  no  other 
rule  save  that  of  her  own  sons.  Not  only  was  she  most  abund- 
ant in  inhabitants  and  m  wealth,  but  shone  with  the 
utmost  lustre  by  the  magnificence  of  many  princes,  by  the 
splendour  of  many  most  noble  and  most  beauteous  cities, 
by  the  majesty  of  religion  of  which  she  was  the  seat ;  she 

i  Guicdardini  here  forgets  the  perpetual  wars  between  Pop^ 
Innocent  VIII  and  King  Ferrante  of  Naples. 

212 


DUKES  AND   POETS   IN   FERRARA 

life  of  the  epoch,  drinking  in  what  was  best  in  its  spirit, 
absolutely  untainted  by  its  darker  side— its  cruelty  and 
lust,  its  loosening  of  all  ties  and  obligations,  human  and 
divine, — ^which,  though  held  in  check  in  Ferrara  by  the 
personal  influence  of  the  Duke  and  Duchess^  was  manifest 
enough  there  as  elsewhere.^  Hardly  in  the  least  exaggerated 
is  the  enthusiastic  praise  of  the  women  of  the  House  of  Este, 
which  Ariosto  puts  upon  the  lips  of  "  the  courteous  en- 
chantress "  in  satisfaction  of  Bradamante's  desire  to  bear 
of  the  belle  e  virtuose  donne  to  come  from  her  race  :— 

Da  te  uscir  veggio  le  pudiche  donne, 
Madri  d'Imperatori  e  di  gran  R^;i» 
Reparatrici  e  solide  colonne 
Di  case  illustri  e  di  domini  egregi ; 
Che  men  degne  non  aon  ne  le  lor  gonne, 
Ch'in  arme  i  cavallier,  di  aonuni  pregi, 
Di  piet^,  di  gran  cor,  di  gran  prudenza, 
Di  somma  e  incomparabil  continenza.* 

The  frequent  absences  of  the  Duke  from  his  capital,  and 
the  taxes  imposed  to  gratify  his  lavish  spectacular  and 
decorative  tastes,  aroused  much  discontent  at  times.  "  He 
just  takes,"  says  a  contemporary  manuscript,*  **all  the 
pleasures  that  he  likes,  and  fills  up  his  time  with  astrology 
and  necromancy,  giving  very  small  audience  to  his  people' 

1  Mrs.  Ady  finely  remarks  :  '*  If  in  Isabella  we  have  the  supreme 
representative  of  Renaissance  culture  in  its  highest  and  most 
intellectual  phase,  Beatrice  is  the  tyi)e  of  that  new-found  joy  in  life. 
that  intoxicating  rapture  in  the  actual  sense  of  existence,  that  vas 
the  heritage  of  her  generation."    {BMirice  d*  Este,  preface,  p.  vij 

«  Orlando  Furioso,  xiii.  57.  **  From  thee  I  see  issue  the  pure 
ladies,  mothers  of  emperors  and  of  great  kings,  that  shall  restore 
and  sustain  illustrious  Houses  and  noble  dominions.  Not  less 
worthy  are  they  in  their  women's  weeds  than  the  knights  in  arms; 
of  highest  worth,  pitiful  and  great  of  heart,  right  prudent,  supreme 
and  incomparable  in  virtue." 

*  Frizzi,  iv.  p.  147. 

214 


IN  THE  LULL  BEFORE  THE   STORM 

Murders  and  robberies  with  violence,  even  sacking  of  shops, 
took  place  in  broad  daylight.*  The  offices  of  State  were 
openly  sold  to  M  the  ducal  treasury,  and  the  purchasers  got 
back  their  outlay  by  extortion  and  oppression.  Away 
from  Ferrara,as  at  Massa  Fiscaglia  in  1488  and  at  Argenta 
in  1489,  the  people  rose  ^and  took  vengeance  summarily 
upon  their  Podesti,  and,  in  a  subsequent  chapter,  we  shall 
see  an  even  more  notable  act  of  popular  justice  in  Ferrara 
itsdf. 

Duke  Ercole  had  a  perfect  passion  for  the  drama.  Under 
his  auspices  Ferrara  was  now  to  witness  what  was  little  less 
than  the  restoration,  tlie  new  birth  of  the  theatre  of  the 
ancients,  naturally  followed  a  little  later  by  the  modem 
Italian  comedy  of  the  Renaissance.  With  the  year  i486 
begins  the  great  series  of  dramatic  representations  in 
Ferrara,  which  marks  an  epoch  in  the  history  of  the  Italian 
stage.  Nearly  fifteen  years  before  at  Mantua— recent 
researches  have  shown  that  it  was  precisely  in  that  fateful 
July  of  I47i,when  Duke  Borso  lay  on  his  death-bed  at 
Ferrara,  and  his  nephew  Niccold  had  fled  from  Ercole 
to  seek  aid  from  the  Gonzaga  and  Sforza — the  Festa  or 
Favola  d'Orfeooi  young  Angelo  Poliziano  had  been  recited 
under  the  auspices  of  the  Marchese  Lodovico  and  the 
Cardinal  Francesco  Gonzaga,  as  a  part  of  the  festivities 
that  welcomed  the  Duke  and  Duchess  of  Milan.*  This, 
however,  as  Del  Lungo  and  D' Ancona  have  pointed  out,  does 
not  represent  the  beginning  of  the  Italian  secular  drama ; 

^  Writing  under  1478,  Caleflani  says  :  "  In  this  time  Ferrara  was 
a  den  of  thieves,  and  there  were  many  murderers  ;  every  day  people 
were  killed,  wounded  or  robbed,  and  never  was  any  robber  or 
murderer  found."  In  1480,  it  was  found  necessary  to  issue  a 
proclamation  abrogating  the  right  of  the  churches  to  give  sanctuary 
to  criminals.    Croniche  del  Duca  Ercole,  ft.  33,  35V. 

«  I.  Del  Lungo,  FhrenHa,  pp.  284  et  seq. 

215 


DUKES   AND   POETS   IN    FERRARA 

in  spite  of  its  mytholc^cal  theme,  Poliziano's  Orfeo  still 
retains  the  characteristics  of  the  sacra  rappresentazionc] 
but  it  clearly  implies  "  the  application  of  the  forms  of 
the  popular  and  religious  mystery  to  a  classical  and  profane 
subject,  and,  corresponding  to  this,  the  rising  of  an  Italian 
theatre  no  longer  in  the  squares  or  in  a  church,  but  in  a 
Court.**  *  For  some  time  this  stood  alone,  until  Isabella 
d'  Este  brought  the  Ferrarese  influence  to  the  dty  of  the 
Gonzaga ;  and  we  must  look  to  Ferrara  and  the  year  i486 
for  the  real  beginning  of  the  Italian  drama.  "  Ercole  I," 
writes  D'Ancona,  "  without  entirely^  abandoning  or  despising 
the  religious  form,  favoured  and  aided  with  his  example  and 
with  his  encouragement  the  instauration  of  the  secular 
theatre,  of  classical  character  in  its  art  and  of  courtly 
magnificence  in  its  mounting."  * 

On  January  25,  i486,  the  stage  was  set  up  in  the  cortile  of 
the  ducal  palace  opposite  the  chapel,  and  the  series  began 
with  the  Menaechmi  of  Plautus.  The  Marquis  of  Mantua 
had  come  the  day  before  to  be  present,  and  some  thousands 
of  spectators  witnessed  the  performance  in  silence,  bursting 
out  into  clamorous  and  enthusiastic  applause  at  the  end. 
The  scenery  and  the  realism  of  a  boat  with  sails  and  oars  and 
ten  persons  on  board,  which  moved  across  the  stage,  roused 
general  admiration,  and  the  cost  is  said  to  have  amounted 
to  more  than  a  thousand  ducats.'  Next  year,  1487,  on 
January  21,  to  honour  the  marriage  of  his  favourite  Giulio 
Tassoni  with  Ippolita  de*  Contrari,  the  Duke  had  an  original 
Italian  play  produced — the  Favola  di  Cefalo,  by  that  most 

*  Del  Lungo,  op.  cU,,  p.  320 ;  A.  D'Ancona,  Origini  del  Teatro 
Italiano,  ii.  pp.  349,  35a 

*  Op.  cit,,  ii.  p.  352. 

*  Diario  Ferrarese,  col.  278  ;  Zambotto,  f,  173. 

216 


IN  THE  LULL  BEFORE   THE   STORM 

perfect  knight  of  Italian  court  chivalry,  Niccold  da  Correggio. 
Though  not  devoid  of  merit,  the  play  may  be  described  as 
an  imitation  of  Poliziano's  Orfeo,  with  hardly  a  trace  of  its 
l5nical  beauty  and  more  obviously  influenced  l>y  classical 
models.  It  was  on  this  same  occasion  that  the  Duke  gave 
the  bridegroom  the  magnificent  new  palace  that  he  had 
built  near  San  Francesco,  now  called  the  Palazzo  Pareschi, 
and  granted  him  the  right  to  bear  the  arms  of  Este. 

In  this  same  month  of  January,  1487,  the  marriage  was 
celebrated  of  Annibale  Bentivoglio  with  Ercole's  bastard 
daughter,   Lucrezia.  -Annibale  had   visited   Ferrara   two 
years  before,  and  Ercole,  writing  to  Giovanni  Bentivoglio, 
had  expressed  the  great  pleasure  that  he  had  derived  from 
the  visit,  and  assured  him  that  the  yoimg  man  had  won  the 
hearts  of  all  the  Coiut.    He  painted  in  glowing  terms  the 
mutual  affection  of  the  two, "  being  both  beautiful  and  in  their 
first  love,"  and  suggested  that  the  marriage  had  better  be 
hurried  on.    Bentivoglio,  however,  raised  some  objection, 
and  the  matter  had  been  in  consequence  deferred  until  this 
year.^    To  do  honour  to  the  occasion,  on  January  25,  the 
AmpkUruo  of  Plautus  was  given,  with  musical  interludes ; 
there  was  a  Paradise  or  Olympus  constructed  with  lamps 
for  stars  and  Uttle  children  dressed  as  planets,  "  that  was  a 
wondrous  thing  to  see  "  ;   but  the  performance  "  was  not 
finished,  because  there  came  a  great  rain,  which  fell  upon 
the  spectators,  although  the  cortile  was  almost  all  covered 
over  with  canvas."    The  entertainment  was  repeated  on 
February  3,  for  the  pleasure  of  the  Marquis  of  Mantua,  with- 


^  Letters  of  Ercole  to  Giovanni  II.  Bentivoglio,  January  8  and  14, 
1485.  (Dallari,  pp.  108,  109).  Lucrezia's  dowry  from  her  father 
amounted  to  10,000  ducats,  to  which  Giovamii  Bentivoglio  added 
2,000  more  {ibid,,  p.  114,  note). 

217  P 


DUKES   AND    POETS   IN   FERRARA 

out  whose  genial  and  sportive  presence  no  f  esta  in  Ferrara 
seemed  complete ;  this  time  they  played  the  whole  thing 
through,  with  a  pageant  of  the  Labours  of  Hercules  at  the 
end.* 

In  the  years  that  followed,  Boiardo  produced  his  Timm, 
a  dramatization  of  a  dialogue  of  Lucian,  and  Tebaldeo, 
whom  we  shall  meet  again,  recast  the  Orfeo  of  Poliziano  into 
the  form  of  a  r^ular  tragedy.  Gradually  almost  all  the 
comedies  of  Plautus  and  Terence  were  brought  upon  the 
boards  of  the  ducal  theatre— occasionally  in  the  original, 
but  more  usually  translated  or  imitated — ^Ercole  being 
exceedingly  particular  about  the  fidelity  and  accuracy  of  the 
versions  provided  for  him.  And  these  performances — ^which 
were  held  sometimes  in  the  cortile,  sometimes  in  the  Sala 
Grande  of  the  palace — were  not  confined  to  the  Court.  As 
far  as  space  admitted,  the  people  were  allowed  to  assist  as 
spectators ;  and  in  the  first  printed  edition  of  the  Cefalo  it 
is  distinctly  stated  that  the  fable  was  "  composed  by  the 
Lord  Niccold  da  Correggio  for  the  most  illustrious  Duke 
Ercole,  and  by  him  represented  to  his  most  prosperous 
people  of  Ferrara."  This  was  especially  the  case  when  the 
representation  was  held  in  the  cortile  ;  according  to  Zam- 
botto,  as  many  as  ten  thousand  persons  witnessed  the  per- 
formance of  the  Menaechmi,  which  may  be  said  to  have 
inaugurated  the  whole. 

A  curious  episode  of  the  year  1487  may  be  mentioned. 
Ercole  had  vowed  a  pilgrimage  to  St.  James  of  G)mpostela, 
and  set  out  in  March  with  a  splendid  company.  At  Milan, 
where  he  stopped  for  Holy  Week,  a  message  reached  him 
from  the  Pope  bidding  him,  under  pain  of  excommunication, 
go  no  further,  and  conunuting  the  matter  of  the  vow  to 
^  Zambotto,  flf.  i8iir.-i82v. 
218 


IN  THE  LULL  BEFORE  THE   STORM 

a  visit  to  Rome.    It  seems  that  Innocent  scented  some 

political  intrigue  under  this  religious  seeming.    "Duke 

Ercole  took  it  very  ill,"  writes  the  Ferrarese  Diarist,  "  but 

he  had  to  obey  and  to  go  to  Rome." »     He  reached  the 

Eternal  City  on  May  22,  and  had  a  ceremonious  reception, 

representatives  of  the  Pope  meeting  him  at  intervals  on  the 

way.    Half  a  mile  before  reaching  the  Ponte  Milvio,  the 

Senator  and  Conservatori  greeted  him  ;  between  the  bridge 

and  the  gate,  the  households  of  the  Cardinals  and  the 

ambassadors  of  the  Italian  sovereigns,  and,  a  little  nearer, 

the  household  of  the  Pope  with  twenty-four  prelates  and 

other  dignitaries,  welcomed  him.     The  Cardinal  Lorenzo 

Gybe  and  the  Cardinal  Ascanio  Sforza  awaited  him,  and 

brought  him  to  the  palace  into  the  presence  of  Innocent, 

preceded  by  the  ambassadors.    The  Pontiff  received  him 

with  all  the  Cardinals  sitting  round,  as  is  done  in  the 

Consistory,  and  made  him  sit  among  them  under  the  last 

Cardinal  Deacon,  after  which  Cybo  and  Sforza  brought 

him    to   his  apartments.*     On    the    last  day   of    May, 

Ascamo  Sforza  gave  a  great  hunt  in  the  Duke's  honour,  six 

miles  out  of  Rome,  which  "  was  a  worthy  and  honourable 

thing,  alike  because  of  the  equipment,  which  was  right 

splendid  and  magnificent,  and  because  of  the  banquet,  which 

was  as  sumptuous  and  ample  as  could  be  ^escribed."  '  Ercole 

left  Rome  on  June  5,  and  stayed  some  days  at  Urbino  and 

ForU   on    his  way  home.     While  at  the  latter  town,  he 

»  Diario  Ferrarese,  col.  279. 

vJli^lfff***^  °*  Ercole's  reception  are  from  a  MS.  now  in  the 
Vati^n  Library,  Cod.  Barberirn,  Ivu.  44  (S.  690,  70). 

r^r2  T^t.^  ^  ^«'  J«°e  3.  1487.  Archivio  di  Modena, 
f^^„  ^W/^-.  The  Notaio  di  Nantiporto  Bays:  "They 
!™^^L!°!.***«  •  ^  "^^t  "^  ^>^Y  arranged  ;  but  right  weU 
/Z^>^^  **°^''****  San  Giovanni  deUaMagliana."  Rerum 
llaltcarum  Scrtptores,  iu.  2,  col.  1 105.) 

219 


DUKES   AND    POETS    IN    FERRARA 

heard  that  Ippolito  had  started  for  Hungary,  to  take  up  his 
/  Archbishopric  of  Esztergom  (the  young  prelate  was  not  nine 
years  old),  and  sent  him  his  paternal  blessing  through 
Leonora.  Count  Girolamo  was  away  at  Imola,  sick  appa- 
rently with  a  diplomatic  illness ;  but  he  very  courteously 
received  Alberto  della  Sala,  whom  Ercole  had  sent  to  thank 
him  for  his  reception  at  Forll.^ 

The  next  year,  1488,  was  one  of  blood  and  tumult  for 
Ercole's  neighbours,  the  tyrants  of  Romagna.  Count 
Girolamo  Riario  was  butchered  in  Forli  on  April  14,  and  his 
corpse  dragged  through  the  streets  by  the  populace ;  but 
prompt  aid  from  Milan  and  Bologna  placed  the  city  again 
at  the  mercy  of  the  Count's  heroic  widow,  Caterina  Sforza. 
On  the  last  day  of  May  at  Faenza,  Francesca,  Giovanni 
Bentivoglio*s  daughter, — amoved  thereimto,  says  Machia- 
veUi,  "  either  by  jealousy  or  by  having  been  badly  treated 
by  her  husband,  or  by  her  own  evil  nature,'* — ^murdered  her 
husband,  Galeotto  Manfredi,  in  their  own  bed-chamber. 
According  to  Machiavelli,  BentivogUo  was  privy  to  the 
design,  in  the  hopes  of  becoming  lord  of  Faenza.  With  a 
condottiere  of  the  Duke  of  Milan  and  a  strong  force  of  armed 
men,  he  advanced  upon  Faenza  and  occupied  it;  but 
the  men  of  the  Val  di  Lamone  poured  into  the  city,  shouting 
for  young  Astorre  (the  murdered  man's  son)  and  for  the 
Florentines,  killed  the  Milanese  condottiere,  took  Benti- 
vogUo prisoner,  and  handed  him  over,  together  with  the  place, 
to  Antonio  BoscoU,  the  commissary  of  Florence. 

Informed  of  what  had  happened,  the  Duke  of  Ferrara 
wrote  at  once  to  Ginevra  Sforza  (BentivogUo's  wife)  and  to 
Annibale,  offering  his  services  on  behalf  of  their  husband  and 

*  Letters  of  June  20  and  22,  1487,  from  Ercole  to  Leonora. 
Archivio  di  Modena,  Ca/rteggio  dei  Principi, 

220 


IN  THE  LULL  BEFORE  THE  STORM 

.father.    Lorenzo  de'  Medici  and  the  Florentines,  before 
releasing  him,  required  from  the  Duke  of  Milan  a  promise 
that  he  would  interfere  no  more  with  the  city  and  people  of 
Faenza;  and  Ercole,  who  was  insistent  on  Bentivoglio's 
behalf,  alike  with  Lodovico  Sforza  and  Lorenzo  de'  Medici, 
dissuaded  Ginevra  and  Annibale  from  their  professed  in- 
tention of  declaring  war  against  Florence,  if  he  were  not 
instantly  set  free.     By  the  end  of  June,  Bentivoglio  was 
back  in  Bologna,  and  took  his  revenge  by  persuading  II 
Moro  to  give  an  annual  provision  of  300  ducats  to  Ottaviano 
Manfredi,  a  rival  claimant  to  Astorre's  signory,  who  stayed 
under  Ercole's  protection  at  Ferrara  to  serve  in  case  of  need 
as  a  threat  against  Lorenzo  and  the  Florentines,  who  by  the 
protection  of    Faenza  had  enormously  increased  their  in- 
fluence in  eastern  Italy .^ 

In  November,  a  conspiracy  of  the  Malvezzi  and  Bar- 

gellini  and  others  at  Bologna,  to  murder  Bentivoglio  with  all 

his  family  in   their  palace  at  a  banquet  and  overturn  the 

State,  was  discovered  on  the  very  day  upon  which  it  was  to 

have  taken  effect.    On  December  10,  Lucrezia  wrote  to  her 

step-mother,  the  Duchess  Leonora :    "  Now,  thanks  be  to 

God,  1  tod  myself  in  good  favour  with  these  my  magnificent 

parents-in-law,  and  they  treat  me  very  affectionately,  with 

demonstrations  of  love  better  than  in  the  past ;  on  my  side 

1  shall  strive  my  best  that  these  things  shall  last.    I  shall 

write  nothing  else  to  your  Excellence,  save  that  we  have  all 

had  a  great  fright,  and  especially  myself,  who  was  never  too 

courageous.    I  still  cannot  free  me  from  it,  for,  at  every 

I  See  various  letters  interchanged  between  Ercole,  Ginevra  and 
Annibale,  and  Giovanni  Bentivoglio,  during  June  and  July,  1488. 
Dalian,  pp.  1 21-123.  Both  the  Bentivoglio,  father  and  son,  were 
in  the  pay  of  the  Duke  of  Milan,  and  Ercole  had  frequently,  in  these 
years,to  use  his  influence  to  get  their  stipends  regularly  given  to  them. 

221 


DUKES   AND   POETS   IN    FERRARA 

little  noise  I  hear,  it  seems  to  me  that  those  are  at  hand  who 
come  to  do  some  harm."  * 

The  splendid  marriages  of  the  Duke*s  three  eldest  legiti- 
mate children  lit  up  the  years  1490  and  1 491 .  As  early  as  1477, 
as  we  have  seen,  Alfonso  d'  Este,  the  "hereditary  prince" 
of  Ferrara,  had  been  betrothed  to  the  sister  of  Gian  Galcazio, 
Anna  Sforza,  then  a  child  a  little  older  than  her  pro- 
spective  brid^oom.   In  1480  Lodovico  Sforza,  then  twenty-    I 
nine,  had  demanded  the  hand  of  Isabella  ;  but,  as  she  was 
already  engaged  to  the  son  of  the  Marchese  Federigo  Gon- 
zaga,  Ercole  offered  Lodovico  the  hand  of  his  second  little 
girl,  Beatrice,  instead — which  II  Moro  promptly  accepted.' 
The  time  had  now  come  for  these  alliances  to  be  carried  into 
effect.    In  February,  1490,  Isabella  was  taken  in  state  to 
Mantua  to  be  married  to  Gian  Francesco  Gonzaga,  who 
had  succeeded  to  his  father  as  Marquis   in   1484.     At  the 
end  of  the  following  December,  in  a  winter  of  unusual 
severity,  Beatrice  with  her  mother,  escorted  by  Galeazzo 
Visconti,  a  favourite  courtier  of  the  Duke  of  Ban,  her 
brother  Alfonso  (who  was  to  fetch  back  his  own  bride  to 
Ferrara)  and  her  uncle  Sigismondo,  joined  on  the  way  by 
Isabella,  went  to  Pavia,  where  they  were  met  by  Lodovico 
Sforza,  and  the  marriage  was  celebrated  in  the  ducal  chapel 
on  January  17,  1491.*    A  most  magnificent  reception  at 

^  Dallari,  p.  126. 

*  See  letter  from  Duke  Ercole  to  the  Marquis  of  Mantua,  in  Luzio 
and  Renier,  Dells  RelaxUmi  di  Isabella  d*  Este  Gonzaga  con  Lodovico  e 
Beatrice  Sforza,  p.  77  ;  c£.  Dallari,  pp.  39, 40. 

'  A  full  and  picturesque  account  is  given  by  Mrs.  Ady,  op.  cit-, 
pp.  60-66.  Leonora  was  a  little  nervous,  because  on  the  first  night 
"that  result  had  not  followed  which  we  naturally  desired/'  as 
Ercole  put  it — ^this  being  a  point  of  great  importance  as  non-con- 
summation of  marriage  in  those  days  was  a  frequent  pretext  for  a 
political  divorce  later.     Ercole,  however,  assured  her  that  all  would 

223 


IN    THE   LULL   BEFORE   THE    STORM 


Milaxi  followed,  where  a  long  series  of  splendid  balls,  with 
pageants  and  spectacles  directed  by  no  less  a  personage 
than  Leonardo  da  Vinci  himself,  welcomed  the  young 
Ferrarese  princess.  Ercole  was  especially  delighted  to  hear 
from  his  wife  that  Lodovico  talked  to  her  with  great 
familiarity  and  affection,  without  using  any  reserve.  "  And 
when  your  Ladyship  returns  here,"  he  writes,  "  we  shall  be 
glad  for  you  to  tell  us  by  word  of  mouth  exactly  what  he 
said,  as  you  say  that  you  will  do."  * 

Reading  between  the  lines  of  another  letter  from  Ercole 
to  Leonora,  we  gather  that— not  imnatiurally — the  daughter 
of  King  Ferrante  had  not  been  prepossessed  in  favour  of 
the  Duke  of  Bari  before  this  visit,  and  that  her  husband 
was  disposed  to  exult  over  her,  in  the  testimony  that  she  was 
being  forced  to  bear  to  her  new  son-in-law's  merits.  Ercole 
has  learned  from  her  letter,  he  says,  how  Lodovico  is  heaping 
all  imaginable  demonstrations  of  affection  upon  her  and  the 
rest  of  the  party,  and  how  his  Excellence,  in  public  and  in 
private,  alike  in  the  presence  of  the  Venetian  orator  and  in 
that  of  the  Marquis  of  Mantua,  has  shown  the  cordial  love 
he  bears  to  him  and  her,  and  that  he  desires  everything  that 
is  to  Ercole's  honour,  reputation  and  advantage.  "We 
have  received  such  singular  content,  joy  and  pleasure  from 
these  things,  that  it  is  impossible  for  us  completely  to  express 
it ;  for  we  see  that  the  most  illustrious  Lord,  Messer  Lodo- 
vico, gives  every  day  further  proofs  of  the  cordial  love  that 

Y)e  vrell ;  Lodovico  had  refrained  "  because  of  the  girl's  inexperience 
and  timidity,  and  the  true  love  that  he  bears  her,  and  because  of  the 
great  desire  his  Excellence  has  had  not  to  displease  her  "  ;  he  is  no 
doubt  waiting  for  uno  bon  die  a  quel  acto,  i.e.  a  day  considered  favour- 
able by  the  astrologers.  (Letter  of  January  21,  1491.  Archivio 
di  Modena,  Carteggio  dei  Principi.) 

1  Letter  of  January  20,  1491 .     Archivio  di  Modena,  he.  cii. 

223 


M,      I 


DUKES   AND    POETS    IN   FERRARA 

his  Excellence  bears  us,  and  of  his  excellent  will  and  dis- 
position towards  us.  For  this  your  Ladyship  has  to  thank 
him,  in  your  name  and  in  ours,  with  all  your  power,  and 
to  make  him  understand  that  we  shall  alwajrs  be  grateful  to 
him  for  so  many  honourable  demonstrations.  And  right 
well  does  it  please  us  that  your  Ladyship  should  have  learned 
to  know  by  true  experience  what  we  have  always  told  you 
concerning  the  prudence  and  wisdom  of  the  said  Lord, 
his  goodness,  and  the  love  that  his  Excellence  bears  us, 
and  what  we  have  always  believed  and  firmly  expected 
from  him  ;  for  you  will  have  seen  and  found  it  to  be  even 
more  than  we  told  you.  And  if  you  went  over  there  with 
this  good  opinion,  you  will  now  return  all  the  better  edified, 
having  seen,  as  you  have,  the  excellent  proofs  of  which  you 
write  to  us,  and  you  will  think  that  we  had  formed  a  good 
and  true  opinion."  ^ 

But  even  then  a  slight  cloud  appeared  on  the  horizon. 
At  her  very  entry  into  .the  city,  Beatrice  resented  having  to 
3aeld  precedence  to  her  cousin,  Isabella  d'  Aragona  Sforza, 
the  rightful  Duchess  of  Milan,  and  thus  began  the  bitter 
rivalry  between  these  girls — ^which,  it  can  hardly  be  doubted, 
was  one  of  the  factors  in  the  mingled  mass  of  motives  that 
urged  Lodovico  on  in  his  fatal  course.  For  some  while, 
however,  all  external  manifestations  of  amity  were  kept  up 
between  the  two  Duchesses,  and  when  once  Lodovico  had 
been  induced  to  break  off  his  liaison  with  his  beloved 
mistress,  Ceciha  Gallerani,  Beatrice's  marriage  was  in  most 
respects  a  happy  one.*    Dancing  and  riding,  hawking  and 

1  Letter  from  Ercole  at  Ferrara  to  Leonora  at  Milan,  January  29, 
1 49 1.    Archivio  di  Modena,  loc,  cit. 

*  For  all  these  transactions,  see  Mrs.  Ady,  op.  cit.,  chapter  viii. 
I  can  hardly  follow  her,  however,  in  rejecting  the  story  of  the  ani- 
mosity between  the  two  duchesses ;  cf .  Luzio  and  Renier,  op*  cit., 

224 


IN    THE   LULL  BEFORE   THE   STORM 

hunting,  filled  up  her  time,  quaintly  mingled  with  prac- 
tical joking  and  horse-play  of  a  very  primitive  description. 
"  The  two  duchesses,"  wrote  Jacopo  Trotti  to  Ercole 
on  April  28,  "  have  been  having  a  sparring-match,  and 
the  Duke  of  Bari's  wife  has  knocked  down  her  of  Milan."^ 
It  is  impossible  not  to  suspect  a  double  meaning  in  the 
Ferrarese  diplomatist's  report.  Well  had  it  been  for  Milan 
and  the  House  of  Sforza,  if  Beatrice  had  been  content 
with  thus  knocking  down  her  Neapolitan  cousin  only  in 
sport! 

Anna  and  Alfonso  had  been  privately  married  in  Milan 
on  January  23,  and  at  the  same  time  the  marriage  had  been 
arranged  between  the  younger  Ercole  d'  Este,  the  son  of  the 
Duke's  brother  Sigismondo,  and  Angela  Sforza,  one  of  the 
nieces  of  Gian  Galeazzo.  There  had  been  some  haggling — 
unseemly  to  our  modem  notions,  but  taken  as  a  matter  of 
course  according  to  the  feeling  and  fashion  of  that  age — 
about  Annans  jewels  and  Angela's  dowry.  Duke  Ercole 
professed  himself  completely  satisfied  with  his  wife's 
diplomacy  in  these  delicate  matters,  especially  as  the  other 
side  was  equally  pleased ;  right  glad  was  he,  too,  to  hear 
that  Leonora  had  taken  a  liking  to  her  new  daughter-in-law. 
"The  more  the  most  illustrious  Madonna  Anna  satisfies 
your  Ladyship,"  he  writes,  "and  the  better  she  gets  on  with 


p.  87.     The  flattering  utterances  of  a  mere  Court  poet  like  Bellin- 

cioni  cannot,  surely,  outweigh  the  testimony  of  Bernardino  Corio 

(iii.  pp.  430»  458),  and  of  the  Ferrarese  ambassador  in  Milan,  not  to 

speak  of  the  bitter  reference  to  Beatrice  in  Isabella's  own  appeal,  a 

little  later,  to  her  father.     On  kay  21,  1492,  Jacopo  Trotti  wrote 

from  Milan  to  Duke  Ercole  :  "  This  Duchess  of  Milan  keeps  rabid 

and  desperate  with  the  envy  that  she  feels  more  than  ever  towards 

our  Duchess  of  Bari."    (Quoted  by  Balan,  v.  p.  328,  note  6). 

1  Mrs.  Ady,  op.  cit.,  p.  100. 

225 


DUKES   AND   POETS    IN    FERRARA 

you,  so  much  the  more  shall  we  be  consoled  and  with  greater 
contentment."  * 

At  the  beginning  of  February  Isabella  d*  Este  accompanied 
Alfonso  and  Anna,  with  the  Duchess,  to  Ferrara  for  the  full 
solemnity.    Escorted  by  two  hundred  knights  of  Milan,  led 
by  Ermes  Sforza  and  the  G)unt  of  Caiazzo,  Francesco  da 
San  Severino,  the  bridal  train  came  along  the  Po  in  a  gaily 
decorated  bucentaur  to  the  Ferrarese  landing-place,  and 
passed  the  night  in  the  convent  of  San  Giorgio,  Leonora  and 
Isabella  going  on  to  the  Castello.    Next  morning,  February 
12,  Isabella  came  to  fetch  the  bride,  and  the  whole  party 
entered  Ferrara  on  horseback  over  the  PontediSan  Giorgio 
and  rode  through  the  streets,  greeted  by  pageantry  in  front 
of  the  Tassoni  Palace,  at  the  Schifanoia,  outside  San  Fran- 
cesco and  in  the  chief  piazza.  Under  a  canopy  of  white 
damask,  Alfonso  and  Aima  went  together  up  the  steps  of  the 
Corte  Vecchia,  where  Leonora  was  waiting  in  state  to  receive 
them.     There  was  a  dance   in  the  evening,  followed  by 
the  performance  of  the  Amphitruo  again  ;  on  the  next  day, 
after  the  nuptial  benediction,  there  was  another  festa  in  the 
Sala  Grande  of  the  palace,  when  the  Duke  gave  them  the 
Menaechmi ;  and  at  nightfall  the  sposi  were  brought  by  the 
covered  way  that  coimected  it  with  the  Corte  Vecchia  to  the 
Castello,  and  there  put  to  bed  with  the  curious  ceremonies 
and  practical  joking  which  the  taste  of  the  age  approved. 

*  Letter  from  Ercole  at  Ferrara  to  Leonora  at  Pavia,  February  i, 
1491.  Archivio  di  'Modena,  Carteggio  dei  Principi.  In  the  same 
letter  occurs  a  curious  piece  of  etiquette  :  "  As  to  the  desire  of  the 
most  illustrious  Lord  Lodovico,  that  his  consort  should  be  written 
to  as  Illustrissima,  we  say  that  it  seems  to  us  quite  proper  that,  if 
lUustrissifno  be  written  to  the  husband,  Illustrissima  should  be 
written  to  the  wife  ;  and  we  had  foreseen  this,  because,  in  the  letter 
that  we  wrote  to  the  said  Madama  Duchessa  di  Bari,  we  wrote 
Illustrissima,  as  your  Ladyship  will  have  seen." 

326 


IN   THE   LULL   BEFORE   THE   STORM 

The  Marquis  of  Mantua  especially  distinguished  himself  by 
his  f  acetiousness  on  this  occasion.  Anna  took  it  very  quietly 
but  Alfonso  gave  them  back  as  good  as  he  got.* 

Isabella  sent  such  a  glowing  account  of  their  brother's 
wedding  to  Beatrice,  that  the  Duchess  of  Bari  wrote  back 
that  she  really  seemed  herself  to  be  present  at  it.  "  I  am 
quite  certain,"  she  said,  "  that  those  parades  and  triumphs 
have  been  done  with  that  mastery  and  gaUant  show  that  your 
Excellence  writes  me ;  for,  since  they  were  thought  out  and 
^Jranged  by  the  most  illustrious  Lord  our  Father,  there  is  no 
doubt  that  the  whole  wiU  have  been  carried  out  with  the 
greatest  wisdom  and  perfection,  such  being  the  custom  of 
his  Excellence."  a 

Alfonso's  secretary  wrote  of  Anna  in  after  years  :  "  She 
was  most  beautiful  and  most  gracious ;  and  Uttle  else  can 
be  written  about  her,  because  she  Uved  but  a  short  while.*'  ^ 
She  was  quiet  and  devout  in  disposition,  and  won  her  f  ather- 
m-law's  heart  at  once.  Otherwise,  she  remains  Uttle  more 
than  a  sweet  and  gracious  shadow. 

The  year  1492  opened  under  what  seemed  most  favourable 
auspices  for  the  maintenance  of  the  peace  of  Italy,  In 
January,  the  long  conflict  between  the  Church  and  Naples 
was  brought  to  an  end  by  a  treaty,  practically  an  alliance 
between  the  Pope  and  the  King.  But  the  death  of  that 
merchant  arbiter  of  the  destinies  of  the  peninsula,  Lorenzo 
de'  Medici,  on  April  8,  changed  the  aspect  of  affairs. 


I  See  extract  from  the  letter  from  Ermes  Sforza  and  ihe  Count  of 
Caiazzo  to  the  Duke  of  Milan,  in  Luzio  and  Renier,  op.  cit., 
p.  96.  For  another  instance,  with  a  serious  ending,  of  the  taste  of 
the  age  in  these  nuptial  japeries,  see  Giraldi,  Ecatommiti,  i.  10. 

«  Letter  of  February  23, 1491 .     Luzio  and  Renier,  op.  cit.,  p.  97. 

3  Bonaventura  Pistofilo,  Vita  di  Alfonso  I  d'  Este,  p.  492. 

227 


DUKES   AND    POETS   IN    FERRARA 

In  the  latter  part  of  April,  Ercole  was  in  Rome,  purdy  for 
his  devotion  and  to  visit  the  holy  places,  as  he  protested. 
There  had  been  some  talk  of  his  going  on  to  Naples ;  but 
the  Pope  objected  on  the  grounds  that,  especially  after  the 
recent  conclusion  of  the  treaty,  such  a  journey  would  wear 
a  political  aspect.  The  King,  therefore,  sent  an  ambassador 
to  the  Duke,  to  express  his  regret  that  he  was  unable  to 
invite  him  to  visit  him.  "  We  have  accepted  the  excuse  of 
his  Majesty,"  writes  Ercole  to  Leonora,  "  since  it  is  caused  by 
the  above  considerations  ;  we  think  that  it  is  well  to  guard 
ourselves  from  putting  jealous  ideas  into  the  heads  of  others, 
and  especially  since  we  have  neighbours  of  the  kind  that  we 
have."  ^ 

On  the  evening  of  July  25,  Pope  Innocent  VIII  died;  and 
on  August  II,  the  infamous  Cardinal  Rodrigo  Borgia  was 
elected  to  the  papacy,  and  took  the  title  of  Alexander  VI. 
"  With  simony  and  a  thousand  rascalities  and  shamefulness," 
said  the  Venetian  orator  in  Milan  to  Jacopo  Trotti,  Ercole's 
representative,  "  the  Pontificate  has  been  sold,  which  is  an 
ignominious  and  detestable  thing."  ^  And  his  Magnificence 
merely  voiced  the  common  conscience  of  Christendom.  But 
Manfredo  Manfredi,  the  Ferrarese  ambassador  in  Florence, 
knowing  the  reUgious  susceptibilities  of  the  Duchess 
Leonora,  wrote  to  her  that,  in  spite  of  the  things  that  had 
been  done,  Alexander's  elevation  was  to  be  held  the  work 
of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  that  men  said  that  he  would  prove 
a  glorious  Pontiff.*    There  was  wild  exultation  at  the 

*  Letter  of  April  21,  1492.  Archivio  di  Modena,  Carteggio  dei 
Principi, 

a  Dispatch  of  Jacopo  Trotti  to  Ercole,  August  28, 1492.  Pastor, 
iii.  document  14. 

'  Letters  of  August  1 1  (?)  and  1 7.  Cappelli^  Fra  Girolamo  Savona- 
rola, pp.  322,  323. 

228 


IN    THE   LULL   BEFORE   THE    STORM 

Milanese  Court,  where  the  whole  election  was  ascribed  to  the 
machinations  of  the  Cardinal  Ascanio  Sforza.    A  few  days 
after  the  news  of  the  election  had  spread  through  Italy, 
Isabella  d'  Este  went  to  Milan  by  way  of  Cremona  and  Pavia, 
and,  from  Pavia  and  again  from  the  capital,  she  wrote  to 
tell  her  husband  of  the  universal  delight.    On  August  19, 
she  dined  with  Lodovico  and  Beatrice,  and  after  dinner,  in 
the  presence  of  the  Duke  and  Duchess  of  Milan  (who  appear 
already  to  have  been  regarded  as  almost  negligible  quanti- 
ties in  their  own  duchjy  Lodovico  showed  a  letter  from  the 
Milanese  ambassador  in  Rome  (who  had,  of  course,  written 
to  him  and  not  to  his  nominal  sovereign),  which  he  proceeded 
to  read  aloud.    In  this  dispatch  the  Pope  was  represented 
as  telling  the  ambassador  that  he  confessed  th&t  he  had  been 
made  Pope  by  Ascanio,  "  miraculously  and  contrary  to  the 
opinion  of  all  the  world,"  and  that  he  intended  to  be  the 
most  grateful  Pope  that  there  ever  was — ^with  much  more 
of  the  same   tenor.    Then  Lodovico  produced  what  pur- 
ported to  be  a  letter  written  in  the  Pope's  own  hand  to 
Ascanio,  in  a  similar  tone,  and  declared  that  his  Holiness  had 
told  the  ambassador  that,  knowing  the  importance  of  his 
(Lodovico's)  i)osition  and  his  prudence,  he  meant  to  rule 
in  accordance  with  his  views  in  such  wise  that  he  would 
practically  be  seated  on  the  papal  throne !    Whether  the 
luckless  young  Duke  of  Milan  had  enough  sense  to  realize 
that  this  triumph   of    his  unde   was    his  own  ruin,  we 
cannot  say;  but  Isabella  d'  Este  assured  them  all  that  she 
and  her  husband  were  greatly  delighted,  because  of  the 
affinity  that  they  had  with  the  Lord  Lodovico/ 

In  November,  Alfonso  d'  Este  went  with  "  a  most  beau- 

*  Letter  oi  August  19  from  Isabella  to  the  Marquis  of  Mantua. 
Luzio  and  Renier,  op,  ciL,  pp.  351-352. 

229 


DUKES   AND   POETS   IN    FERRARA 

teous  company  '*  to  congratulate  the  Pope  on  his  elevation, 
and  to  commend  his  father's  States  to  his  protection. 
Alexander  received  him  with  the  utmost  cordiality,  and 
heaped  honours  upon  him.  In  Alfonso's  train  was  the  new 
Court  painter  of  Ferrara,  Ercole  de'  Roberti,  with  a  com- 
mission from  the  Duchess  to  see  certain  things  (sculptures 
and  pictures,  presumably),  and  report  on  them  to  her.* 
Alfonso  was  back  in  Ferrara  by  December  i8;  and  on 
January  3, 1493,  the  Duke  wrote  a  somewhat  fulsome  letter 
to  the  Pope,  thanking  him  for  his  ''  singular  benignity, 
liberaUty,  grace,  humanity  and  ineffable  charity."* 

While  in  Rome,  Don  Alfonso  had  probably  seen  in  the 
palace  of  S.Maria  in  Portico  a  young  girl  whose  name  was]des- 
tined  in  after  years  to  be  linked — somewhat  ambiguously— 
with  his  own:  Madonna Lucrezia  Borgia.  We  are  fortunately 
not  here  concerned  with  the  family  affairs  of  the  House 
of  Borgia,  save  in  so  far  as  they  touch  those  of  the  princes 
of  the  House  of  Este.  Suffice  it  to  say  that,  when  her  father 
was  elected  Pope,  Lucrezia  was  between  twelve  and  thirteen 
years  old,  four  years  younger  than  her  formidable  brother 
Cesare.^  Her  mother,  the  Roman  Vannozza  Catand,  had 
taken  as  second  husband  a  Mantuan  humanist.  Carlo  Canale, 
in  i486.  The  Pope  had  placed  his  daughter— whom 
he  loved,  as  the  Ferrarese  ambassador  in  Rome,  Gian 
Andrea  Boccaccio,  Bishop  of  Modena,  wrote  to  Ercole,  in 
superlativo  grado — ^under  the  chaige  of  his  kinswoman, 
Adriana  dei  Mila,  the  widow  of  Lgdovico  Orsini.  In  the 
same  palace,  Ukewise  under  the  protecting  wing  of  this 

*  Venturi,  UArte  Ferrarese  nel  periodo  di  Ercoie  /,  iL  p.  415. 

*  Gregorovius,  Lucrexia  Borgia ,  document  8. 

'  According  to  the  documents  found  by  Gregorovius,  Lucreaa 
was  born  on  April  18,  1480,  andCesarein  1476. 

230 


IN    THE   LULL  BEFORE  THE  STORM 

serviceable  lady,  lived  a  girl  some  four  or  five  years  older 
than   Lucrezia,  whose  magnificent  head  of  hair  excited 
universal  admiration  in  the  Eternal  City  ;   this  was  Donna 
Giulia  Famese,  ostensibly  the  young  wife  of  Adriana*s  son 
Ursino,  in  reality  the  mistress  of  the  Sovereign  Pontiff  himself. 
When  a  mere  Cardinal,  Alexander  had  been  contented  with 
a  Spanish  noble  for  his  daughter,  and  had  found  her  a 
prospective  husband  in  the  young  Count  of  Aversa,  Don 
Gaspare  da  Procida.    But  now  a  great  Italian  alliance 
seemed  desirable.    Don  Gasparo  came  to  Rome  after  the 
Pope's  accession  to  claun  his  bride,  only  to  find  another 
competitor  in  the  field,  in  the  person  of  Giovanni,  Count 
of  Cottignola  and  tyrant  of  Pesaro,  an  illegitimate  son  of 
Costanzo  Sf  orza.    The  Magnifico  Giovanni  had  previously 
been  married  to  Maddalena  Gonzaga,  sister  to  the  Marchese 
Gian  Francesco,  who  had  died  in  childbirth.     In  the  follow- 
ing June,  1493,  the  marriage  between  Giovanni  Sforza  and 
Lucrezia   Borgia  was  formaUy  celebrated  in  Rome,  and 
the  Holy  Father  was  much  delighted  with  the  present  of 
richly-worked  plate  that  Ercole  sent  on  this  occasion.^ 

Even  before  the  death  of  Innocent  VIII,  Lodovico  Sforza 
had  been  in  treaty  with  the  French.     Beatrice,  intensely 
ambitious  for  his  sake  and  her  own,  was  urging  him  to  make 
himself  Duke  of  Milan  in  very  deed,  and  he  anticipated  dire 
opposition  from  Naples.    In  January,  1492,  he  had  been 
holding  long  and  secret  conferences  with  the  French  ambassa- 
dors, had  shown  great  jubilation  at  the  result,  and  professed 
a  desire  to  speak  in  secret  with  Ercole.    The  concert  of  the 
Italian  Powers  was  dearly  breaking  up ;   in  May,  Jacopo 

1  It  was  then  that  Boccaccio,  writing  to  Ercole,  used  the  oft- 
repeated  phrase  concerning  Giulia  Famese  :  Madonna  Julia  de 
Famese,  de  qua  est  tanius  sermo,      Gregorovius,  document  10. 

231 


DUKES   AND   POETS    IN   FERRARA 

Trotti,  watching  the  game  at  Milan,  informed  Ercole 
that  it  would  take  little  to  bring  about  a  direct  rupture 
between  Milan  and  Naples.*  Under  pretext  of  a  vow, 
Ercole  went  to  Milan  in  July,  and  had  a  long  interview'with 
Lodovico,  whose  ambassador  in  France,  Carlo  di  Belgiojoso, 
was  manifestly  doing  all  in  his  power  to  bring  about  a  French 
invasion  of  Italy — on  the  grounds,  it  will  be  remembered, 
of  reviving  the  old  claims  of  the  House  of  Anjou  upon  the 
Kingdom  of  Naples. 

The  supposed  slight  inflicted  upon  Lodovico  by  Naples 
and  Florence  at  the  coronation  of  Pope  Alexander,  when 
King  Ferrante,  at  the  instigation  of  Piero  de'  Medici,  nega- 
tived the  former's  proposal  that  one  ambassador  should 
speak  for  all  the  allied  Italian  Powers,  did  little  more  than 
increase  his  desire  for  the  coming  of  the  invader. 
Already,  in  September,  he  had  openly  told  Trotti  to  inform 
Ercole  that  the  French  King  had  decided  upon  the  conquest 
of  Naples,  "  as  a  thing  belonging  and  pertaining  to  his 
Majesty."  *  A  month  later,  Lodovico  accused  the  Duchess 
Isabella  of  Milan  of  attempting  to  adnodnister  a  mysterious 
white  powder  to  Galeazzo  da  San  Severino  and  a  certain 
Rozone,  a  favourite  of  the  Duke  her  husband,  with  the 
ntention  of  diverting  the  Duke's  affections  from  the  latter, 
but  which  in  reality  was  a  deadly  poison.  Her  supposed 
agents  were  imprisoned  and  put  to  the  question.  The 
Neapolitan  ambassador  implored  Lodovico  to  hush  the  matter 
up,  but  the  latter  sent  copies  of  the  process  to  be  read  to  the 
royal  family  of  Naples  and  to  the  Pope.  The  old  King  was 
furious,  declared  that  the  whole  process  was  a  mere  plot  on 

1  Cf.  Trotti's  dispatches  during  January,  February  and  May, 
1492,  cited  by  Balan,  v.  pp.  377,  378. 
*  Cf.  Balan,  v.  p.  378,^note  6. 

232 


IN    THE   LULL   BEFORE   THE    STORM 

the  part  of  Lodovico  to  ruin  his  grandchild,  and  ordered  his 
second  son,  the  Prince  Federigo  of  Altamura,  who  was  then 
in  Rome  attempting  to  sow  discord  between  the  Pope  and 
Milan,  to  seek  an  audience  of  the  Sovereign  Pontiff,  and 
lay  the  whole  blame  upon  the  Duke  of  Bari,  as  he  deserved.* 

In  January,  1493,  Leonora  went  to  Milan,  to  assist  at  the 
birth  of  Beatrice's  first  child,  who  was  bom  on  the  25th  ; 
named  first  Ercole,  he  is  better  known  in  history  as  Massi- 
mUiano  Sforza.    For  days  all  the  bells  of   Milan  rang, 
prisoners  were  released,  and  the  whole  Lombard  capital 
was  gay  with  pageants  and  processions.    And  at  Ferrara 
the  rejoicings  were  scarcely  less  at  the  reception  of  the  good 
tidings.    Ercole  wrote  enthusiastically  to  his  wife,  declaring 
that  he  rejoiced  at  Lodovico*s  good  fortime  no  less  than  if  it 
had  been  his  own.    "  All  to-day,  in  token  of  gladness,  we 
have  had  cannons  fired  and  bells  rung  through  all  the  city, 
with  all  the  other  demonstrations  and  signs  of  joy  that  befit 
such  festive  occasions,  and  we  have  ordained  that  to-morrow, 
to  praise  God,  there  be  made  a  goodly  and  most  solemn 
procession,  and  we  shaU  also  have  a  solenrn  Mass  sung  for 
the  same  intention."  * 

Xhe  birth   of  this  little  prince  precipitated  the  catas- 
trophe.   Although  the  statement,  sometimes  repeated,  that 
Gian  Galeazzo  and  his  wife  were  barely  allowed  the  neces- 
^Qxies  of  life  is  absolutely  contradicted  by  the  accounts 
stai  preserved  of  their  expenses  in  the  Archives  of  Milan, 
it  is  evident  that  Lodovico  had  already  usmped  the  State 

1  Letter  from  the  Kmg  to  the  Prince  of  Altamura,  December  26, 
1492.  Trinchcra,  Codice  Araganese,  ii.  i,  p.  229.  Cf.  also  the 
extracts  from  Trotti's  dispatches,  in  Balan,  v.  p.  378. 

t  Letters  of  January  26,  1493.  Archivio  di  Modena,  Carieggio  dei 
Principi. 

233  ^ 


DUKES   AND   POETS   IN   FERRARA 

in  everything,  save  the  title  of  Duke ;  all  the  fortresses  of 
the  duchy  were  in  his  hands,  and  the  administiatioii  was 
absolutely  his.  Exasperated  at  the  sight  and  sound  of 
these  rejoicings,  which  were  fai  in  excess  of  those 
that  had  welcomed  the  birth  of  her  own  son  Fran- 
cesco a  few  years  before,  Isabella  wrote  that  piteous 
and  passionate  appeal  to  her  father,  the  Duke  of  Calabria, 
which  may  still  be  read  in  the  pages  of  Corio,  urging  him 
by  his  paternal  piety,  by  his  love  for  her,  by  her  just  tears, 
by  the  magnanimity  of  a  king,  to  deliver  his  son-in-law  and 
daughter  from  this  shameful  servitude  and  restore  to  them 
their  rightful  dominion.^  Alfonso  of  Calabria  lent  a  ready 
ear  to  his  daughter's  appeal  and  urged  his  father,  King 
Ferrante,  to  maintain  the  cause  of  his  grandchildren  with 
arms.  The  rupture  between  the  tv(p  States  seemed  immi- 
nent. But  appearances  of  amity  were  still  kept  up.  The 
King  protested  again  and  again  that  the  Duke  of  Ban  had 
no  reason  for  suspecting  his  dispositions  and  intentions 
towards  him,  that  he  was  absolutely  contented  that  he 
should  keep  his  position  in  the  government  of  the  duchy, 
and  that  he  himself  was  disposed  to  do  everything  pos- 
sible to  preserve  and  augment  his  authority.* 

But,  in  truth,  the  desires  of  Lodovico  went  far  beyond 
the  throne  of  Milan — concerning  the  investiture  of  which  he 
was  soon  to  open  negotiations  with  Maximilian,  King  of 
the  Romans.  He  was  dreaming  of  the  acquisition  for 
himself  of  the  crown  of  a  north  Italian  kingdom.  In  the 
April  of  this  year,  1493,  mainly  through  the  diplomacy  of 

*  Storia  di  Milano,  iii.  pp.  458,  459.  Is  it,  perbaps,  possible 
that  the  letter  is  the  rhetorical  exercise  of  some  humanist  ? 

s  Letter  to  Antonio  da  Gennaro,  royal  ambassador  in  Milan,  of 
February  17,  1493.      Trinchera,  ii  i,  p.  288. 

234 


DUKES   AND    POETS   IN    FERRARA 

and  improbable.  It  seems,  however,  clear  that  Ercole  knew 
of  all  the  articles  of  the  treaty,  and  accepted  the  place 
reserved  for  him  in  it.  Among  the  minor  Powers,  the  Re- 
public of  Siena  and  the  Marquis  of  Mantua  adhered  to  the 
League. 

The  King  of  Naples  protested  against  the  League— and 
still  more  against  what  he  saw  l5^ng  behind  it — by  the 
mouth  of  Antonio  da  Gennaro,   whom   he   bade   use  in 
speaking  to  Lodovico  "  that  charity  which  is  worthy  of  us 
as  a  father   towards    him  whom   we   hold   for  a  son.'* 
"  We  urge  and  exhort  him,"  he  wrote,   "  with  paternal 
affection  and  most  cordial  intention,  to  continue  in  his 
ancient  customs,  to  keep  before  his  eyes  and  in  his  heart 
the  assured  and  mutual  friendships  of  the  past,  nor  depart 
from  his  usual  wisdom.   Let  him  think  what  Italy  is,  where 
she  is  placed,  the  quality  of  the  States  that  are  in  her  and 
near  her,  and  the  excessive  evils  whereof  his  Excellence 
might  be  the  cause,  if  she  be  divided.    The  blind  can  see 
whether  Italy  has  good  neighbours  by  sea  and  land."  * 

Ostensibly  for  pleasure,  in  reality  for  purposes  connected 
with  the  new  League,  Lodovico  and  Beatrice  came  to  Fer- 
rara  on  May  i8,  "  per  puncto  de  astrologia,'*  and  had  a 
most  smnptuous  reception.  On  the  previous  day,  the  news 
had  just  reached  them  that  peace  had  been  concluded 
between  Charles  and  Maximilian,  and  that  the  former's 
hands  were  therefore  free.  There  were  races  and  tourna- 
ments, dances  in  the  ducal  gardens,  and,  of  course,  the 
inevitable  Plautine  comedies,  without  which  no  entertain- 
ment seemed  to  Ercole  to  be  complete.  A  week  later,  the 
day  and  hour  likewise  chosen  by  astrology,  Leonora  and 

*  Letter  of  April  24,  1493.    Trinchera,  ii.  i,  p.  376. 
236 


DUKES   AND    POETS   IN   FERRARA 

null  and  void  by  the  Papal  G>urt.  The  Marchesana  Isabella 
came  in  July  to  be  near  her  mother,  and  stayed  until 
August  10,  the  Duchess  being  utterly  unable  to  let  her 
go.*  And,  indeed,  Leonora  was  destined  never  to  see  her 
favourite  daughter  again. 

A  few  da3rs  later,  Ercole  set  out  for  Pavia,  at  Lodovico's 
invitation,  with  a  goodly  company  including  Don  Alfonso, 
and  a  band  of  young  men  to  perform  a  series  of  comedies 
for  the  Sforza*s  pleasure.  At  Pavia,  which  they  reached 
on  August  25,  they  were  received  by  the  two  Duchesses, 
Isabella  of  Milan  and  Beatrice  of  Bari ;  the  latter  was  radiant 
with  happiness  and  content,  but  her  rival  avoided  the 
Ferrarese  merry-makers,  appearing  only  at  the  performances. 
Three  comedies  were  played — the  CapHvi,  the  Mercakr, 
and  the  Poenulus — on  three  successive  days.*  From  Pavia, 
on  August  30,  Lodovico  and  Beatrice  made  an  excursion 
to  Milan  with  Ercole,  to  show  him  his  little  grandchild— or, 
as  he  more  pompously  styles  it,  "  the  most  illustrious  our 
nipote,  son  of  the  said  Lord."  They  found  the  baby  ver>' 
flourishing,  tutto  jocondo  e  piacevole,  and  returned  next  day 
to  join  the  rest  at  Pavia.  Here  they  found  Alfonso  ill  with 
ever,  and  decided,  although  Messer  Francesco  da  Castello, 
the  Court  physician,  did  not  think  it  was  anything  serious, 
to  send  hitn  back  to  Ferrara  in  the  bucentaur.  But  Lodo- 
vico, as  usual,  thought  that  the  stars  were  at  work,  and  that 

^  See  the  aflFectionate  letter  from  Isabella  to  her  sister-in-law,  the 
Duchess  Elisabetta  of  Urbino,  July  26,  1493,  in  Luzio  and  Renier, 
Mantova  e  Urbino ^  p.  67.  Elisabetta  Gonzaga  had  married  Duke 
Guidobaldoin  1488. 

s  Cf .  Luzio  and  Renier,  DbIU  Relajeiani  di  Isabella  d*  EsU  Gonzaga 
con  Lodovico  c  Beatrice  Sforza,  pp.  379,  380.  As  one  of  the  actors 
was  Lodovico  Ariosto,  I  shall  return  to  these  festivities  on  another 
occasion. 

238 


DUKES   AND   POETS   IN   FERRARA 

four  gentlemen  '^  who  have  continually  to  eat  with  our  son, 
because  such  is  the  custom  in  France  and  it  will  be  an  honour- 
able thing."    The  numbers  of  attendants  of  all  kinds  are 
carefully  defined,  and  the  horses  and  mules  to  be  appointed 
to  each.    Lodovico,  indeed,  had  hinted  that  the  thing  was 
being  done  on  too  lavish  a  scale,  and  suggested  that  forty 
horses  and  mules  would  be  enough  ;  ''  but  we  thought  that 
they  should  be  forty-six,  in  order  that  he  may  go  more 
honourably."    For  his  own  person,  Ercole  thinks  his  son 
is  well  supplied  with  horses  ;  but  he  is  content  to  give  him 
two  of  his  own,  one  of  which,  "  Reale,"  was  given  him  by 
the  King  [of  Naples  ?]  and  the  other, "  Roseghino,"  is  good 
for  exercising    in  the  tilt-yard.    Besides  all  these,  four 
Ferrarese  gentlemen,  including  Count  Giovanni   Boiardo 
and  Messer  Giulio  Tassoni,  are  to  accompany  him  and  then 
return,   and  Lodovico  will  send  Galeazzo  Visconti  well 
attended ;  '*  so  that  in  his  going  there  will  be  about  eighty 
horses,  and  in  this  way  we  think  that  the  company  will  be 
honourable,  both  in  respect  of  those  who  are  to  stay  with 
our  son,  and  those  who  are  to  accompany  him  and  then 
to  return  hither."  * 

But,  after  this  had  gone  on  for  a  few  days,  the  poor 
Duchess  wrote  piteously  that  she  was  really  too  ill  to  attend 
to  any  provision  for  Ferrando*s  departure,  and  Ercole  put 
it  into  the  hands  of  his  brother  Sigismondo  instead,  as  he 
was  anxious  that  there  should  be  no  delay.  "  Every  day 
that  at  present  is  lost  seems  to  us  to  be  worth  ten,  considering 
that  the  bad  weather  is  at  hand  with  the  winter."  As  to 
the  day  of  the  prince's  starting,  Leonora  piously  suggested 
that  the  Feast  of  St.  Francis  of  Assisi  would  be  suitable ; 

1  Minute  Ducali.     Archivio  di  Modena,  Carteggio  dei  Principi, 

240 


IN  THE   LULL   BEFORE   THE   STORM 

but  both  Ercole  and  Lodovico  scouted  the  notion,  and 
thought  that  a  "  lucky  "  day  was  needed  for  his  affairs  to 
prosper.  Let  her  wait  until  Lodovico  has  heard  from 
Maestro  Ambrosio,  to  whom  he  has  written  to  send  them  a 
good  day.* 

Meanwhile,  to  Ercole*s  unbounded  delight  and  mainly 
through  Lodovico's  influence,  Ippolito  had  been  raised  to 
the  Cardinalate  in  the  consistory  of  September  20.  His 
most  reverend  and  illustrious  lordship  was  not  fifteen  years 
old,  and  was  still  in  his  Hungarian  archbishopric.  Among 
the  Cardinak  simultaneously  created  (not  to  mention  our 
own  Archbishop  Morton  of  Canterbury  and  others  as  worthy 
of  the  purple)  were  Cesare  Borgia  and  Giulia's  brother, 
Alessandro  Famese,  "  il  cardinale  della  gonnella."  Ippolito 
was  the  first  of  the  House  of  Este  to  reach  this  dignity,  and 
Ercole  bade  Leonora  have  public  rejoicings  all  over  the 
Duchy  for  this  good  tidings.  In  writing  to  her  son,  he 
instructed  her,  for  the  honour  of  the  House,  to  address  the 
letter  "  Cardinali  Estensi,"  instead  of  "  Cardinali  Strigoni- 
ensi,"  as  the  more  usual  custom  demanded.' 

A  few  days  later,  an  urgent  letter  from  Sigismondo  reached 
Ercole,  telling  him  that  Leonora  had  been  growing  steadily 
worse  for  three  days.  Ercole  would  have  hurried  to  her 
bedside  at  the  reception  of  the  news— but  Lodovico  inter- 
posed with  his  astrology :  "  As  soon  as  we  received  your 
letter,  we  should  have  started  to  come  at  once  to  Ferrara ; 
but,  because  the  conjunction  of  the  moon  will  take  place  the 
day  after  to-morrow,  it  has  seemed  to  the  most  illustrious 

*  Letters  of  September  21  and  October  2,  I493>  to  Leonora. 
AicluviodiModena,/o..«/. 

A-etters  of  September  22  and  26.   Archivio  di  Modena,  CarUggio 
««  Prtncipi. 

241 


') 


DUKES   AND   POETS   IN   FERRARA 

Lord  Lodovico  that  we  ought  not  to  set  out,  because  oi 
that  combustion."  Nevertheless,  he  will  hasten  his  depar- 
ture, going  from  Milan  by  Pavia  to  Cremona,  and  from 
Cremona  to  Ferrara  by  ship,  sending  the  horses  by 
land  by  way  of  Mantua.  At  Cremona  he  will  take  leave 
of  Don  Ferrando,  who  is  already  on  his  way,  and  then 
hasten  to  Ferrara  to  see  his  wife.*  He  came  too  late,  arriv- 
ing at  Ferrara  on  October  12,  only  to  find  that  Leonora  had 
died  on  the  previous  day.  A  messenger,  who  had  been  sent 
to  hurry  him,  had  missed  him  on  the  way. 

All  Ferrara  believed  she  had  died  like  a  saint,  consoled 
with  celestial  visions.  She  was  buried  quietly  in  the  convent 
of  the  Corpus  Domini,  and  the  funeral  was  followed  by 
numerous  religious  services  for  the  repose  of  her  soul,  with 
great  donations  to  the  poor  of  the  city.  Ferrando  hurried 
back  to  Ferrara,  but  was  too  late  to  be  present  at  the  funeral, 
and  left  again  at  once.' 

*'  Not  without  grief  of  heart,'*  wrote  Ercole  to  Ippolito, 
"  do  we  inform  you  that  your  dearest  mother  and  our  most 
illustrious  consort  yesterday  evening,  at  about  the  twenty- 
third  hour,  died,  having  first  received  all  the  sacraments  oi 
Holy  Church  with  the  greatest  contrition  and  devotion,  and 
in  full  possession  of  her  senses,  hearing  and  speaking  of 
spiritual  and  devout  things.  You  must  this  time  bear 
yourself  in  such  a  way  that  you  be  reputed  a  wise  and  pni- 

*  Letter  to  Sigismondo  d'  Este,  of  October  8,  1493.  Archivio  di 
Modena,  Carteggio  dei  Principi. 

*  Diario  Ferrarese,  coll.  286,  287.  All  contemporaries  bear 
witness  to  Leonora's  rare  qualities  of  heart  and  mind,  her  boundless 
charity ;  '*  Acts,"  writes  Giovanni  Sabadino  degli  Arienti,  '*  that 
would  make  the  adamantine  gates  of  Paradise  freely  open  "  (Gyne- 
vera  de  le  Clare  Donne,  ed.  C.  Ricci  and  A.  Bacchi  della  Lega, 
p.  401).  For  her  library,  composed  almost  entirely  of  mystical 
books,  see  Bertoni,  op,  cit,,  Appendix  II.  (i). 

242 


IN    THE   LULL  BEFORE  THE  STORM 

dent  Cardinal,  a  man  and  not  a  youth,  and  of  a  great  soul 
and  not  weak,  able  to  be  steadfast  in  adversity  as  temperate 
in  prosperity.  Verily,  this  is  a  case  to  give  evidence  of  the 
virtue  of  your  disposition  and  of  the  constancy  that  a  prelate 
of  your  rank  should  have,  and  one  raised  to  such  a  dignity 
as  is  the  Cardinalate."  * 

It  is  from  the  letters  of  the  King  of  Naples  that  we  realize 
what   Leonora  was  to  the  State,  and,  indeed,  in  her  he 
tad  lost  his  last  friend  in  the  counsels  of  the  Powers  of 
northern  Italy.    Besides  the  formal  letter  of  condolence 
which  he  sent  to  the  Duke,  he  wrote  to  his  ambassador  at 
Milan,  Antonio  da  Gennaro,  as  though  Ercole  were  reduced 
to   helplessness  by  the  loss.    At  the  same  time,  reading 
bet>«^een  the  lines,  we  see  that  he  was  prepared  to  take  advan- 
tage of  the  occasion,  to  produce  bad  blood  between  Milan 
and  Venice  : — 

"  In  consequence  of  the  death  of  the  Duchess  of  Ferrara, 
our  daughter,  we  have  thought  well  to  speak  plainly  with 
the  ducal  orator  concerning  the   peril  in  which    Ferrara. 
stands  from  the  Venetians,  smce  the  Duke  is  of  the  nature 
and  age  that  he  is,  and  the  Venetians  have  the  disposition 
that  they  have  to  take  it  for  themselves.    And,  therefore, 
we  have  spoken  right  clearly,  that  he  should  urge  the  Duke 
of  Ban  to  look  to  it  and  protect  it,  as  he  ought,  since  he  is  so 
near  and  bound  by  the  duty  of  blood,  both  as  son  of  the 
r>uke  and  as  father  of  his  children.    We  have  enlarged 
much  upon  this,  for  it  seems  to  us  that  there  is  crying  need  ; 
and,  because  we  feel  certain  that  the  Duke  of  Bari  wifl  make 

^Minute  of  October  12,  Archivio  di  Modena,  CarUggio  dei  Pnnctf>^^ 
Malipiero's  story  of  Leonora  having  been  poisoned  at  Ercolc's  ordeira 
IS  a  mere  Venetian  calumny,  as  absurd  as  it  is  atrocious.     It:    is 
amazing  to  find  that  it  is  adopted  by  so  serious  a  writer  as  Burolc. 
barat. 


243 


DUKES   AND    POETS   IN    FERRARA 

irierchandise  of  this  thing  with  the  Venetian  orator, 
we  send  you  another  letter  together  with  the  present,  in 
order  that  you  may  in  some  discreet  way  come  to  speak 
with  the  Venetian  orator  in  the  tenor  that  is  contained  in 
the  said  letter,  in  order  that,  when  he  writes  to  Venice 
according  to  what  the  Duke  of  Bari  will  tell  him,  he  may- 
go  more  cautiously  and  not  give  too  much  faith  to  the  words 
of  the  said  Duke."  * 

The  Marquis  of  Mantua  had  hurried  to  Ferrara  on  receipt 
of  the  ill  tidings,  but  for  some  days  the  news  was  concealed 
from  Isabella,  who  was  expecting  the  birth  of  her  child. 
On  October  15,  Benedetto  Capilupo,  her  secretary,  wrote  to 
the  Marquis  :  "  She  began  to  perceive  that  she  was  being 
deceived,  as  she  kept  her  eye  upon  every  one,  because  it 
was  eight  days  to-day  since  she  had  letters  from  Ferrara, 
and  also  because  for  three  nights,  according  to  what  she  has 
said,  she  had  dreamed  of  the  blessed  soul  of  Madama."  ^ 
She  heard  at  last  by  way  of  Milan,  and  controlled  her  grief 
for  her  child's  sake,  much  consoled  by  the  presence  of  her 
dearest  friend  and  more  than  sister,  the  Duchess  Elisabetta. 
On  the  last  day  of  this  year  Isabella  gave  birth  to  a  daughter, 
to  whom  the  name  Leonora  was  given.  "  I  shall  renew  in 
her,"  wrote  the  Marchesana,  "  the  name  of  the  blessed 
memory  of  my  most  excellent   mother ;  '*  but,  in  ccmi- 

1  Letter  of  October  20,  1493.  The  other  letter  simply  bids  him 
commend  Ferrara  to  Lodovico.  Ferrante  wrote  similarly  to 
Carlo  Rugieri,  his  ambassador  at  Venice,  bidding  him  reconmiend 
the  affairs  of  Ferrara  and  of  Alfonso  to  the  Republic,  but  with 
dexterity,  **  showing  that  we  are  acting  from  love  and  confidence, 
not  from  any  suspicion."  Trinchera,  ii.  2,  pp.  282,  283^  286,  288. 
The  thing  was  a  clumsy  piece  of  diplomacy,  probably  due  to  the 
iact  that  the  old  King  himself  was  breaking  down.. 

3  Luzio  and  Renier,  Delle  Relazioni  di  Isabella  d*  EsU  Gcnzaga  con 
Lodovico  e  Beatrice  Sforxa,  p.  381. 

244 


IN  THE  LULL  BEFORE  THE  STORM 
municating  the  news  to  her  father  and  sister,  she  did  not 
conceal  her  disappointment.  It  is  ominous,  in  view  of  the 
great  political  tempest  that  was  at  hand,  that  the  Gon^a 
invited  Lorenzo  di  Pier  Francesco  de'  Medici— the  enemy  of 
Piero  and  head  of  the  French  faction  in  Florence— to  act  as 
godfather  to  "our  little  one,"  and  he  was  represented  in 
Mantua  by  his  more  noted  brother  Giovanni/ 

On    November  30  the  marriage   of    Lodovico*s   niece, 
Bianca  Maria  Sforza,  with  Maximilian,  King  of  the  Romans, 
was  celebrated  at  Milan— the  bridegroom  being  represented 
by  his  two  ambassadors,  the  Bishop  of  Brixen  and  Giovanni 
Buontempo.    "AU  the  streets  from  the  Castie   to   the 
Duomo  being  decked  and  covered  with  the  finest  draper- 
ies,'* writes  G)rio,  "  Bianca  with  Lodovico's  wife  Beatrice, 
tnounted  upon  a  triumphal  chariot  drawn  by  four  pure  white 
horses,  was  brought  to  the  Duomo  accompanied  by  the 
aforesaid    ambassadors,     by    Gian    Galeazzo,    Lodovico 
Sforza,  with  all  the  feudatories  of  his  empery,  a  goodly 
ntimber  of  damsels,  and  by  the  more  notable  citizens.    And 
when  they  had  there  heard  the  divine  offices,  by  the  two 
ambassadors  with  the   fitting   ceremonies  was  Bianca,  in 
7T^  name  of  the  most  serene  King  Maximilian,  wedded  as 
bride  ;  after  which,  crowned  as  Queen  and  mounted  on 
norseback,  in  the  midst  of  the  public  joy,  she  returned 
to  the  Castle,  and  after  two  days  she  set  out  to  go  to  her 
desired  spouse  in  Germany." « 

r^c^t^  ^u"^  ^^^  Renier,  MatUova  e  Urhino,  pp.  68,  note  3,  69, 
Xours  wrab*  ^^^  in  this  January,  1494,  that  Gentile  Becchi  from 
sa.n?ue     -L  ^  ^«ro  concerning  these  two  :  *•  Insino  nel  proprio 

»  sLT  t!^^**«  insidiatori "  (Desjardins,  i.  p.  359). 
March^aT^^^^'i^P-533.     A  long  letter  from  Beatrice  to  tlx^ 
and  ]R«r^  ^^>eUa,  describing  the  marriage,  will  be  found  m  LuzIq 
EmI^^iL   ***  i?«/«t<m»  di  IsabeUa  tTEste,  e<c..pp.  384-388.  and  is 
uuuMea  by  Mrs.  Ady,  op.  cU.,pp.  21 1-2 16. 

245 


DUKES   AND   POETS   IN   FERRARA 

Needless  to  say  that  Bianca's  dowry  of  400,000  ducats  of 
gold  was  the  bait  wherewith  the  needy  King  of  the  Rcmians 
had  been  caught.  Lodovico  protested  that  by  this  union 
he  himself  would  be  tanquam  gMinum  of  the  peace  between 
Charles  and  Maximilian.*  But  no  one  knew  what  wodd 
happen  next,  nor  what  the  chief  Italian  States  intended ; 
no  one  trusted  the  Pope ;  the  Florentines  were  anxious  to 
keep  neutral,  though  Piero  favoured  the  Aragcmese  and 
there  was  a  pro-French  party ;  the  Venetians  anticipated 
nothing  but  gain  to  themselves  from  the  sufferings  of  the 
rest  of  Italy ;  Ferrante  still  clung  to  the  hope  that  Lodovico 
might  unite  with  him  in  repelling  the  French  invasion. 

*^  In  such  disposition  of  men's  minds  and  in  such  con- 
fusion of  affairs,  all  tending  to  new  perturbations,  began 
the  year  1494,"  writes  Guicdardini,  "  a  year  most  unhappy 
for  Italy,  and  in  very  sooth  the  first  year  of  miserable  years; 
for  it  opened  the  gate  to  innumerable  and  horrible  calamities, 
of  which  it  can  be  said  that,  through  diverse  accidents,  a 
great  part  of  the  world  afterwards  shared  in  them."  On 
January  17,  Gentile  Becchi  announced  to  Piero  de*  Medici 
that  the  die  was  cast,  and  that  the  enterprise  would  certainly 
go  forward.  "  If  this  i¥ar  is  checked  in  the  Milanese  district 
(for  there  will  be  no  other  opposition  down  to  Naples),  all 
Italy  will  take  arms  with  Milan,  I  can  tell  you.  But  it  must 
be  lost  or  won.  If  it  be  lost,  it  is  all  up  with  Italy ;  iutla 
a  bofdeUoy  ■  "  What  is  the  use  of  your  warning  the  Lord 
Lodovico,"  he  wrote  a  few  days  later,  "  of  the  danger  in 
which  he  is  putting  himself  and  others  ?  Do  you  think 
that  he  does  not  know  it  ?    You  will  make  him  more 

^  Letter  from  Francesco  della  Casa  to  Piero  de'  Medici,  Novem- 
ber 9, 1493.    Desjardins,  i.  p.  261 . 
'  Letttr  of  January  17, 1494.    Desjardins,  i.  p.  357. 

246 


IN     THE   LULL  BEFORE   THE   STORM 
obstinate  in  his  course,  to  make  it  seem  that  he  has  not 
made  a  mistake,  or  else  he  wiU  send  your  letters  here."  * 
Sick  to   death  with  apprehension,  almost  with  his  dying 
hand.  King  Ferrante  wrote  the  epistle  which  may  be  read  at 
length  in  the  *<CodiceAragonese,"  announcing  the  downfall, 
not  of  his  own  House  alone,  but  of  all  Italy :  "  Never  did  the 
x^rench  come  into  Italy  without  working  her  utter  ruin,  and 
^is  coming  is  of  such  a  kind  that  it  can  clearly  be  seen  to 
involve  miiversal  ruin,  though  it  seems  to  threaten  only  us 
who   are  seeking,  not  merely  to  defend  ourselves,  but  to 
^^^rt  *he  ruin."*    He  died  on  January  25,  and  was  suc- 
ceeded by  that  Alfonso,  whom  we  have  hitherto  known  as 
the    rhike  of  Calabria.    On  January  30,  Gentile  Becchi 
informed  Piero  that  the  King  of  France  was  coming  in 
person  to  the  enterprise  of  Naples.    "  See  what  a  stranger 
we  shall  bring  you  home  ;  see  what  a  nag  the  Lord  Lodo- 
vico  has  bought  for  himself  from  over  here."'    "You 
are  always  talking  to  me  of  this  Italy,"  quoth  II   More, 
'•  and  for  my  part  I  never  saw  her  m  the  face."  *    In  March, 
Charles  arrived  at  Lyons,  to  take  supreme  conmaand  of  the 
army.    The  Duke  of  Orleans  with  the  French  fleet  reached 
Genoa;  the  Neapolitan  fleet  under  the  Prince  of  Altamura, 
I>on  Federigo,  approached  the  Gulf  of  Speaa. 

Nevertheless,  some  of  the  actors  in  this  great  historic 
Ji^^ama  found  time  for  lighter  amusements.  "  When  I  took 
leave  of  Madame  de  Bourbon,"  wrote  Francesco  della  Casa 
to  Piero  de'  Medici,  "  she  called  me  back  and  told  me  to 
write  to  you  for  a  civet-cat,  that  is  the  animal  that  makes 

a  rf+^^  ^'^^  ^^^'^  o*  January  22,  1494.    Desjardins,  i.  P-  359- 
^i-etterof  January  17,  1494.    Trinchera,  ii.  2,  p.  421.    The  fateful 
^''^j^  ^  through  the  passage  like  a  re^ 

*  VillAri  xr''^'^^^  30,  1494.    Desjardins,  i.  p.  3^. 
^'  ^^ccold  MachiaveUi,  i.  document  i . 

247 


DUKES   AND   POETS   IN   FERRARA 

civet.  I  answered  her  that  it  was  not  found  in  those  parts, 
but  that,  if  there  was  one  in  Italy  or  elsewhere,  your  Magnifi- 
cence would  send  it  her.  And  when  I  told  her  that  I  re- 
membered having  seen  some  at  Naples,  she  said  to  me  that 
on  no  account  would  she  have  the  King  of  Naples  send  her 
any.  I  answered  that,  either  from  Naples  or  from  wherever 
it  might  be,  you  yourself  would  send  her  one,  and  so  she 
prases  your  Magnificence  to  do,  and  she  ssys  that  she  has 
heard  that  there  are  some  in  Ferrara."  * 

Ercole  followed  with  paternal  affection  all  his  son's 
actions  in  France,  and  kept  up  a  constant  correspondence 
with  him.  He  was  delighted  to  hear  of  the  gracious  reception 
he  had  received  from  the  King  and  Queen,  and  luged  him 
to  follow  up  this  good  beginning  with  diligence  and  pru- 
dence. He  thanks  him  for  the  news  of  the  Court,  touching 
the  bearing  of  the  King  towards  the  Spanish  ambassador 
and  his  disposition  to  attend  to  the  enterprise  of  the  King- 
dom of  Naples.  Hearing  that  it  would  be  well  to  present 
some  "  cose  odorifere  "  to  the  King  and  Queen,  but  finding 
himself  too  badly  provided  with  such  things  to  be  able  to 
make  such  a  present  to  their  Royal  Majesties  as  would  be 
worthy  of  them  and  him,  he  sends  him  by  the  Count  Bal- 
dissera  da  Montecuccolo  "three grains  of  musk,  two  small, 
which  are  set  as  you  will  see,  and  one  large  one  which  is 
not  otherwise  set."    "  We  are  sending  them  to  you  in  order 

*  Letter  of  January  14,  1494,  from  Tours.  Desjardins,  i.  p.  269- 
This  "  Madama  de  Bourbon  "  is,  of  course,  Anne  of  Bcaujeu,  who, 
a  few  years  before,  had  tried  to  wheedle  Piero's  father  out  of  bis 
giraffe  (see  Armstrong,  Lor^tuo  de*  Medici,  pp.  232,  235).  ^ 
December  3',  1493,  Francesco  della  Casa  had  written  from  Amboise : 
"  At  this  moment  the  Duke  of  Ferrara  has  entered,  with  about  a 
hundred  horses,  right  honourably,  and  the  King  will  give  him  a  good 
provision  "  (Desjardins,  i.  p.  267).  This  is  obviously  a  slip  for  Don 
Ferrando. 

248 


IN  THE  LULL  BEFORE  THE  STORM 


at  you  may  be  able  to  make  presents  with  them  on  your 
^:>^wn    account  {da  vui  ve  ne  poiiate  fare  honore),   showing 
•*">iat  you  have  had  something  from  home.    Those  two  little 
OTies  you  can  give,  if  you  thmk  fit,  to  two  of  those  principal 
great  ladies,  one  for  instance  to  the  Duchess  of  Bourbon, 
and  the  other  to  the  Duchess  of  Orleans,  and  that  bigger  one 
you  could   give  from  yourself  to  that  most  serene  Queen, 
vdthout  giving  it  in  our  name.    We  have  not  thought  well  to 
have  it  set,  because  we  do  not  quite  know  the  way  they  have 
over   there   of  setting  such  things.    And  so,  likewise,  you 
could  give  to  his  Majesty  two  horns  of  civet,  which  we  are 
sending  you  by  the  said  Count  Baldissera,  in  the  way  that 
ive  have  told  you."    He  sends  him  other  odours  and  per- 
fxunes  to  dispose  of  as  he  likes ;   two  falcons  for  himself  ; 
certain    **  goodly  moulds  of  cheese "  and  salame.    If  he 
gives  these  latter  away,  he  must  do  it  as  from  himself,  and 
not    present  them  in  the  Duke's  name.*     But  presently 
comes    a    paternal  lecture.    His  Excellence  is  very  much 
displeased  to  hear  that  his  son  gives  himself  much  to  ease, 
and  does  not  use  fitting  diligence  "  in  following  and  serving 
the    Majesty  of  that  Most  Christian  King."    He  has  sent 
him   to  France  that  he  may  make  himself  good  for  some- 
thing, and  urges  him  to  throw  all  his  soul  into  the  service  of 
the    King.     "  We  know  that  you  have  plenty  of  talent  and 
that  yon  know  what  your  duty  is,  and  that,  if  you  wish,  you 
can  do  yourself  credit."  * 

It  vras  probably  in  April  that  the  people  of  Ferrara  began 
t:o    realize  what  was  on  foot.     A  French  ambassador  had 

^  AlinuU  Ducali  to  Don  Feirando,  January  14,  February  15,  ^^> 
^7»  ^4^4-  Arcbivio  di  Modcna,  Carteggio  dei  Principi.  The  two 
last  may  be  said  to  give  a  Renaissance  anticipation  of  the  modern 
E^xiplisli  schoolboy's  hamper  from  home. 

X-etter  of  April  8, 1494.    Arcbivio  di  Modena,  he,  cit. 

249  R 


DUKES   AND    POETS   IN    FERRARA 

arrived,  with  some  sixty  persons  in  his  train  ;  he  stayed  a 
couple  of  days,  the  Duke  escorting  him  on  his  way  with 
great  state  and  ceremony.  "  There  was  much  talk  about 
the  war,"  writes  the  Diarist,  "  and  it  was  said  that  this 
ambassador  had  come  about  it."  * 

Ercole,  in  spite  of  the  Pope's  threat  to  excommunicate 
him  if  he  did  so,  had  promised  to  allow  the  French  forces 
with  their  Italian  allies  to  pass  through  his  duchies  of  Reggio 
and  Modena,  and  to  supply  them  with  provisions  at  a  suit- 
able price.  This  was,  however,  only  a  small  portion  of  the 
invading  army — those  merely  who  were  to  pass  through 
Romagna  and  enter  the  Abruzzi  across  the  Tronto.  At  the 
end  of  July,  the  passage  began ;  first  came  five  hundred 
Italians,  under  the  Count  of  Caiazzo.  They  grossly  mal- 
treated the  people  on  their  way,  and,  when  a  larger  force  of 
the  "  men-at-arms  of  France  and  Milan  "  prepared  to  march 
through  in  August,  Ercole  wrote  emphatically  to  Lodovico, 
describing  the  terror  of  his  subjects,  urging  him  instantly 
to  write  to  the  Count  of  Caiazzo  to  take  measures  to  prevent 
a  repetition  of  these  outrages.' 

In  September,  Charles  himself  arrived  at  Asti.  Lodovico 
and  Ercole  met  him,  knelt  and  kissed  his  hand,  while  the 
ungainly  little  monarch  remained  mounted.  At  Asti  the 
King  lingered  a  month,  laid  up  with  what  is  charitably 
supposed  to  have  been  smallpox.  In  October  he  begasi 
his  advance,  Ercole  presenting  him  with  richly-worked 
tents  and  pavilions.  At  Pavia,  the  hapless  Duchess  Isabella 
threw  herself  at  the  royal  feet,  imploring  protection  for  her 
husband,  mercy  for  her  kindred  of  Naples.    It  is  too  late, 

*  Diario  Ferrarese,  col.  288.  ^. 

a  He  wrote  also  on  the  same  day  to  Trotti,  urging  him  to  see  ti» 
the  letter  to  the  Count  was  worded  eflfectually  and  sent  at  on 
Archivio  di  Modena,  Minutario  Cronologico,  August  2,  i494- 

250 


IN  THE  LULL  BEFORE  THE  STORM 
muttered  the  Most  Christian  King.  Hardly  had  he  passed 
on,  than  Duke  Gian  Galeazzo  died.  Lodovico,  on  receipt 
of  the  tidings,  left  the  King  at  Piacenza  and  hurried  to 
MUan,  to  have  himself  proclaimed  Duke.  The  King,  anx- 
ious and  suspicious,  waited  a  few  days  at  Piacenza,  then 
proceeded  on  his  way  through  Lunigiana  and  Tuscany. 
The  story  of  his  triumphal  march,  the  collapse  of  the  Ara- 
gonese  resistance,  the  flight  of  Piero  de*  Medici,  the  entry 
into  Florence  and  Rome,  need  not  be  repeated  here. 

On  the  news  that  Gian  Galeazzo  was  dying,  Ercole  had 
hastened  to  Milan,  to  lend  his  assistance  in  securing  the 
succession  for  Lodovico  and  Beatrice.  On  his  way,  he 
addressed  a  severe  rebuke  to  Don  Alfonso,  whom  he 
had  left  at  Ferrara,  as  regent  :— 

**  To-day,  before  we  started  from  Ferrara,  we  asked  for 
yon,  and  had  search  made  for  you,  because  we  wished  to 
give  you  some  directions  and  to  tell  you  how  you  were  to 
Dear  yourself  in  our  absence  ;  and  we  could  not  have  you, 
because  you  had  gone  out  of  the  town.    This  thing  has 
greatly  displeased  us,  because,  while  we  were  at  Ferrara,  you 
ought  not  to  have  gone  away,  nor  done  such  things  without 
our  express  leave.    And,  therefore,  we  have  thought  well  to 
write  this  letter  to  you  at  once,  to  tell  you  that  in  this 
absence  of  ours  you  must  govern  yourself  better  than  you 
<dicl  last  month,  when  we  went  into  Lombardy ;  for  you  did 
exactly  the  contrary  to  what  we  committed  to  you.     Our 
intention  was  that  you  should  give  audience  and  that  you 
should  eat  in  public,  in  such  wise  that  all  the  people  could  see 
you  and  speak  to  you  ;  but  you  ate  in  secret  and  in  remote 
places,  showing  that  you  had  little  care  for  the  business 
that  you  should  have  had  at  heart,  and  also  that  you  did 
not  much  esteem  our  commissions.    You  can  beUeve  that: 

251 


'J  1 


DUKES   AND   POETS   IN   FERRARA 

this  has  offended  us.  Therefore,  while  we  are  away,  you 
must  govern  yourself  properly,  giving  audience  to  the  people 
and  eating  in  public,  and  attending  to  the  examinations 
ordered,  and  doing  all  those  other  things  which  are  befitting 
to  you  and  which  you  know  to  be  our  will,  so  that  we  may 
hear  a  different  report  of  you  from  what  we  heard  the  other 
time.  If  you  do  so,  you  will  do  your  duty,  and  a  thing 
which  will  be  pleasure  to  us  and  honour  to  yourself ;  whereas 
if  you  do  otherwise,  we  shall  be  very  angry  with  you  and 
grievously  offended  thereat.  Remember  that  we  shall  hear 
right  well  how  you  behave  yourself,  just  as  we  heard  that 
other  time."  * 

But  we  must  turn  now  to  the  noblest  victim  of  this  year 
of  shame,  to  Ercole*s  Governor  in  Reggio,  Matteo  Maria 
Boiardo. 

1  Letter  dated  Finale,  October  20,  1494.  Archivio  di  Modena, 
Minutario  Cronologico,  Gian  Galeazzo  died  on  the  morning  of 
October  2 1 .  His  contemporaries  for  the  most  part  believed  that  he 
had  been  poisoned  by  Lodovico,  but  this  is  no  longer  accepted  by 
modem  historians. 


252 


Chapter  VIII 
MATTEO  MARIA  BOIARDO 

Q^CANDIANO  lies  some  eight  miles  south-east  of  Reggio, 
^^     at  the  very  foot  of  the  Apemiines,  where  the  Tresinaro 
flows  down  from  the  hills  to  swell  presently  the  Secchia 
near  Rubiera.    The  little  town  itself,  with  its  quiet  streets 
and  arcaded  square,  is  quaint  and  picturesque.   The  whole 
oi  one  comer  of  it  is  occupied  by  the  Rocca,  the  great  castle 
of   its  feudal  counts.    Built  originally  after  the  middle  of 
the   thirteenth  century  by  Giberto  Fogliani,  it  sheltered 
Petrarca  in  1343,  when  on  his  way  to  Reggio  from  Parma, 
^d  in  the  following  centuries  was  enlarged  by  the  Boiardi, 
ixito  whose  hands  it  came  in  1423.    Scandiano  is  backed 
l>y  pleasant  hills,  upon  one  of  which  stands  the  "  Torricella/' 
known  now  as  the  Castello  Cugini,  where  the  greatest  of 
the  Boiardi  hved  and  wrote  in  the  sunmier  months.   Climb 
a.  little  higher,  and  suddenly  a  complete  revelation  breaks 
upon  you  of  the  whole  sweeping  chain  of    Apennines   to 
south  and  west,  whfle  below  your  feet  the  great  cities  of  the 
Emilian  plain  appear  here  and  there,  just  visible  in  the 
misty  distance.    This  enchanted  spot  should  be  visited  on 
a  bright  summer  morning.    The  whole  hillside  is  quick  witlx 
the  flight  of  swarms  of  great  butterflies— black  and  goldeix 
Machaon  mingling  with  its  swifter,  paler  cousin,  tiger- 
striped  PodaUrius,  in  mimic  warfare.     In  these  paladiixs 

253 


DUKES   AND   POETS    IN    FERRARA 

of  the  insect  world  a  believer  in  the  transmigration  of  souls 
might  almost  dream  that  he  saw  the  fantastic  glittering 
heroes  of  whom  Reggio's  two  poets  sang. 

The  Boiardi  were  citizens  of  Reggio  and  feudal  lords  of 
Rubiera  until  1423,  when  Feltrino  Boiardo — whom  we  have 
already  met — ceded  the  latter  lordship  to  the  Marchese 
Niccold  and  received  Scandiano  instead,  with  other  smafler 
townlets  and  the  title  of  Count.  Feltrino  married 
Guiduccia,  the  daughter  of  Count  Gherardo  da  Correggio, 
by  whom  he  had  two  sons,  Giovanni  and  Giulio  Ascanio. 
Giovanni  married  Lucia  Strozzi,  the  sister  of  Tito  Va- 
pasiano,  by  whom  he  had  one  son,  Matteo  Maria,  and  four 
daughters;  Giulio  Ascanio  married  Cornelia  Taddea,  the 
sister  of  Marco  Pio  da  Carpi,  by  whom  he  had  a  son,  Gio- 
vanni. One  of  Feltrino's  daughters,  Giulia,  married  Gian 
Francesco  Pico  della  Mirandola,  who  made  her  the  mother 
of  the  famous  Giovanni  and  of  Galeotto  Pico.  Two  others 
married  into  the  Rangoni  family  of  Modena. 

Matteo  Maria  Boiardo  was  bom,  like  Dante,  under  the 
constellation  of  the  Gemini  (as  he  tells  us  in  one  of  his 
soimets)  in  the  early  summer  of  1434,  probably  in  the  castle 
of  Scandiano,  where  his  grandfather  kept  a  splendid  Court, 
the  Boiardi  being  famous  for  their  hospitality.  -  The  greater 
part  of  the  poet's  boyhood  was  passed  in  Ferrara  and  its 
neighbourhood.    Leonello  d'  Este    had    made    the   Count 
Giovanni  independent  of  his  father,  by  granting  him  certain 
tolls  and  duties  which  had  hitherto  been  reserved  to  the 
Crown  in  the  townlets  of  Feltrino's  fief ;  and  on  Giovanni's 
death,  in  1452,  Borso— who,  on  the  occasion  of  his  triumph 
progress  through  his  duchies,  stayed  at  Scandiano  as 
guest  of  the  Boiardi,  and  renewed  Feltrino's  investiture,  a 
ing  Casalgrande  and  other  places  to  his  fiefs — confinnea 

254 


1- 
t 
I 

MATTEO   MARIA    BOIARDO 

privilege  to  Matteo  Maria,    The  old  Count  and  Countess 
appear   to  have  resented  this;  and  in  their  wills  {Feltrino 
died  in  1456,  Guiduccia  in  1457),  on  the  plea  that  this  em- 
barrassed the  feudatory,  they  compelled  Matteo  Maria  to 
share   these  profits  with  his  unde,  Ginlio  Ascanio,  under 
pain  of  losing  his  portion  of  the  inheritance.*     Throughout 
the   pMDet's  Hfe,  there  seems  to  have  been  this  bad  feeling, 
blading  out  at  intervals,  at  other  times  latent,  between  him 
and  his  father's  family  ;  while  his  relations  with  his  mother*s 
houscj  the  Strozzi,  were  always  of  the  most  cordial  character,  1 
His  uncle  appears  to  have  governed  the   fiefs   after  Fel- 
trino's  death,  and  the  young  poet  is  completely  ignored  in 
all  the  official  letters  of  the  Boiardi.     He  probably  fell  much 
under  the  influence  of  Tito  Vespasiano  Strozzi,  and  perhaps 
spent  these  years  in  Ferrara,  with  the  humanists  and  cour- 
tiers.   In  February,  1460 — on  the  death  of  Giulio  Ascanio 

he  first  comes   forward  as  the  feudal   lord,  Comes   Scan- 

diani  d  Casalgrandis,  in  a  letter  to  Count  Silvio  di  San 

Bonifazio,  Captain  of  Reggio,  announcing  the  death  of  Itlxs 

uncle,  or,  as  lie  puts  it,  "  that  it  hath  pleased  our  Creator  ^' 

to  call  to  Himself  the  blessed  soul  of    my  good  father, 

Messer  Giulio,"  ^    But  even  now  Giulio's  widow,  the  Countess 

Coinelia  Taddea,  an  ambitious  and  overbearing  woman. 

shared  the  title  and  the  administration  of  the  fiefs  of  the 

House. 

Boiardo  appears  to  have  passed  the  next  eight  or  nine 
years  of  his  life  mainly  at  Scandiano,  in  the  midst  of  ttie 
s*=™eiy   he    so   loved,   playing   the   part  of  feudal   lord, 

*  These  details  from  G.  Ferrari,  JVejIm*  della  vita  di  Matteo  B^^^ia 
atnardo^  ^  the  Studi  su  Matteo  Maria  Boiardo,  pp.  6-9- 

l-etter  of  February  8,  1460.  Campanini.  p.  367.  CasalgrsLnde 
13  a  sman  pla^e  south  of  Scandiano,  just  off  the  road  to  Sasauolo,  at 
the  foot  Of  the  hills. 

255 


DUKES   AND   POETS   IN   FERRARA 

hunting  and  entertaining,  and  much  engaged  in  the  som^ 
what  prosaic  affairs  of  the  waters  of  the  Secchia — a  standing 
source  of  contention  between  the  Boiardi  and  the  Commune 
of  Reggio,  which  latter  city  derived  its  water  supply  from 
a  canal  from  that  stream.     "  This  water  is  our  very  life," 
the  Ancients  wrote  to  Cornelia  Taddea  some  years  later.   A 
further  complication  was  added    by  Cornelia's  kinsmen, 
the  Pio  of  Carpi,  who   also   disputed  the  rights  of  the 
good  citizens  of  Reggio.    There  is  still  extant  a  whole 
series  of  Boiardo's  letters  connected  with  this  dispute, 
which  on  his  part  was  always  conducted  with  the  utmost 
generosity   and   courtesy.    On  one   occasion  the  matter 
was  referred  to  Duke  Borso  himself,  who  wrote  back,  some- 
what sharply,  that  the  disputants  must  settle  the  thing 
promptly,  and  not  trouble  him  about  it.     Only  two  letters 
from   Boiardo   to  Borso  have  been  preserved.    One,  of 
September,  1462,  concerns  the  question  of  the  canal ;  the 
other,  of  February,  1466,  excuses  the  writer  for  not  having 
already  gone  to  explain  to  Borso  by  word  of  mouth  "  about 
the  affair  of  those  women,"  on  the  grounds  that  "the 
Magnificent  Count  Giovanni  Francesco   della  Mirandola, 
my  uncle,  has  written  to  me  that  he  wishes  to  come  to 
Scandiano  for  a  few  das^s  to  amuse  himself,  and  so  I  have 
been  expecting  him,"  *    Although  high  in  favour  with  the 
Duke,   whose  benign  bearing  towards  himself  he  records 
in  one  of    his  sonnets,   a  far    warmer    devotion   united 
Boiardo  with  Ercole  d'  Este.    After  the  recall  of  the  latter 
from  Naples  in  1462  and  his  appointment  as  ducal  governor 
of  the  Duchy  of  Modena,  Boiardo  was  a  constant  visitor 
to  the  latter  city,  as  also  to  the  smaller  Court  that  Sigis- 
mondo  held  in  Reggio.     In  January,  1469,  he  was  sunMnoned 
*  Letter  of  February  15,  1466.    Campanini,  p.  378. 
256 


MATTEO  MARIA   BOIARDO 

to  Ferrara  to  form  part  of  the  escort  of  the  Emperor 
Frederick,  returning  to  Scandiano  before  the  begimiing 
of  April. 

This  appears  to  have  been  a  bright  and  peaceful  epoch 
in  Boiardo*s  life.  To  it  belong  his  first  two  works :  the 
Latin  eclogues,  or  Pastaralia ;  the  Italian  lyrics,  or  Can- 
zoniere. 

The  Pastaralia  are  Boiardo's  first  attempts  to  win  the 
Muses.     They  are  ten  in  number,  according  to  the  Virgilian 
precedent,  and  show  a  closer  imitation  of  Virgil's  eclogues 
than  we  find  in  Dante's  correspondence  with  Giovanni  del 
Virgilio  or  in  the  Latin  poetry  of  Petrarca.    They  appear 
to  have  been  composed  between  1458  and  1463,  the  latter 
date  appearing  from  the  references  to  the  return  of  Ercole 
and  his  presence  at  Modena.    The  subjects  are  partly 
amorous,   partly  political  and  heroic,   dealing  with   the 
pacific  reign  of  Borso  and  the  martial  exploits  of  Ercole  in 
Apialia.    Perhaps  the    most    remarkable    is  the  fourth, 
entitled  VasUicomafUia,  a  kind  of    imitation  of  VirgU^s 
famous  PoUio,  in  which  the  golden  age  of  Borso's  rule  is 
depicted  in  glowing  colours,  and  a  gUmpse  is  shown  in  the 
hackground  of  the  struggle  between  Aragonese  and  Angevin 
*or  the  possession  of  the  Regno,  with  the  Turkish  Hydra 
lurking  in  the  distance.     The    tenth,  Orpheus,  is  in    an 
exceedingly  laudatory  strain,  addressed  to  Ercole  himself, 
offering  up  the  httle  collection  to  him,  promising  greater 
poetic  gifts  in  the  future.    It  is  hard  to  blame  adulation, 
when  friendship  and  admiration  alike  are  so  genuine  and 
sincere. 

The  Canzoniere,  that  comes  next  in  the  chronologioal 
order  of  Boiardo's  work,  is  a  far  more  remarkable  achieve- 
ment.   In  its  rhythmic  variety  and  lyrical  beauty,  it     i© 

257 


DUKES   AND    POETS    IN    FERRARA 

the  finest  collection  of  love  poems  written  by  any  Italian 
during  the  fifteenth  century.    The  love  that  it  sets  forth  is 
mainly  of  the  most  chivalrous  and  ideal  description ;  there 
is  considerably  less  of  tangible  yearning  than  we  find,  for 
instance,  in  Petrarca's  Rerum  Vulgarium  Fragmenta.    The 
object  of  the  Coxmt's  admiration  appears  undoubtedly  to 
have  been  a  real  woman,  Antonia  Caprara,  who  was  prob- 
ably Antonia  di  Bartolommeo   Caprari,  a  girl  of  Reggio 
who  was  bom  in  1451,  and  whom  he  worships  thus  in  song 
from  April,  1469  (the  real  or  fictitious  date  of  the  beginning 
of  his  love  being  the  fourth  of  that  month),  until  the  spring 
of  1471.    At  times  he  turns  to  celebrating  the  beauties  of 
a  mysterious  Rosa^  which  is  most  probably  not  the  name  of 
a  woman  (as  some  have  supposed),  but  merely  a  poetic 
s3rmbol  for  Antonia.     Two  other  ladies  are  addressed  in 
some  of  the  poems,  as  confidantes  of  his  devotion  for  Antonia : 
Marietta  and  Ginevra  Strozzi,  the  former  being  the  wife  of 
Teofilo  Calcagnino.    These  lyrics  are  divided  into   three 
books,  Amorum  Lihri  ;  the  first  deals  with  the  poet's  joys  in 
love ;  the  second  with  his  sorrows ;  in  the  third,  old  desires 
are  overcome,  and  he  gradually  passes  out  of  the  amorous 
prison-house  into  another  field.    They  consist  of  sonnets, 
various  kinds  of  canzoni,  different  forms  of  madrigals,  and 
other  lyrics  of  peculiar  metrical  structure,  some  of  them  of 
considerable  length  and  great  originality.    They  show  com- 
parativdy  httle  of  the  frigid  conventions  and  mannerisms 
of  the  Petrarchists,  but  are  for  the  most  part  as  fresh  and 
musical  as  the  best  lyrical  work  of  the  poets  of  the  dalce 
stil  nuovo.     And  for  so  learned  a  poet  and  one  so  steeped  m 
classicism,  so  in  touch  with  the  hmnanists,  Boiardo's  use 
of  mythology  is  refreshingly  sparing  and  never  dragged  m 
for  mere  parade.    He  is  already  dreaming  of  enchanted 

258 


MATTEO   MARIA    BOIARDO 

S^^ardens    and  eternal  spring,  in  the  spirit  of  his  coming 

^■romance. 

The  larger  lyrics  are,  perhaps,  his  greatest  achievement  in 
±his  kind/  For  our  present  purpose  it  must  suffice  to 
quote  two  sonnets.  The  one  gives  admirable  expression 
to   the  first  exultation  of  the  successful  lover  : — 

Qualunque  piti  de  amar  fu  schiffo  in  pria, 

E  dal  camin  de  Amor  piii  dilungato, 

Cognosca  1'  alegreza  del  mio  stato, 

E   tornerase  a  la  amorosa  via. 
Qua^lunque  in  terra  ha  piU  quel  ch'  ei  disia, 

T>i  iorza,  senno,  e  di  belleza  ornato  ; 

Qualunque  sia  nel  mondo  piU  beato/ 

Non  se  pareggia  a  la  fortuna  mia. 
Clid  il  legiadro  desire,  e  la  vaghezza 

Clie  dentro  mi  riluce  nel  pensiero, 

Me  fan  tra  V  altre  gente  singulare. 
Xal  che  io  non  stimo  la  indica  richeza, 

N^  del  gran  re  di  Scyti  il  vasto  impero, 
Che  un  sol  piacer  de  amor  non  pud  aguagliare.* 


^    See,  for  instance,  Cam.  Ixxxii.,  addressed  to  the  Strozzi  ladies, 

and  the  peculiarly  constructed  Canx.  civ.  It  may  here  be  observed 

tiiai:  ixx  tlie  British  Museum  MS.  (£gfr<on  MS.,  1999),  dated  January 

4>  1477— a.  manuscript  which  was  probably  written  under  the  poet's 

personal  superintendence,  or  at  least  at  his  commands  (cf .  Solerti 

^eF^oes%B   Volgari  e  Latine  di  M.  M.  Boiardo,  p.  xiv.)— the  metrical 

^j^xntions  and  other  Latin  titles  are  not  prefixed  to  the  poems. 

xnese   nibncs  and  headings  do,  however,  appear  in  the  Bodleian 

^'^^^Slf"^  (No-  47  in  Mortara's  catalogue),  as  also  in  the  adiHo 

^prxnoeps  CReggio,  j^^^j^  and  may  plausibly  be  referred  to  Boiardo 

nimseu.      Besides  the  "  esemplari  rarissimi  "  cited  by  Solerti  {pp. 

4,  ?^"wTh^*^'  ^^^  ^  *  ^°Py  °*  **^  edition  in  the  GrenviUe  Library. 

♦V.  y^oso  before  shunned  loving  most,  and  kept  furthest  ofE  from 

-tue  pat;^of  Love,  let  him  know  the  bliss  of  my  state,  and  he  will 

""^"^^^^      ^«  amorous  way. 

.  J^'^^^^o^  earth  hath  most  what  he  desires,  adorned  with  power, 
wisdom  and  beauty,  whoso  in  the  world  is  most  blessed,  cannot 
"^"^^csr^"^  ^y  good  fortune. 

^^t-or  tne  gallant  desire,  and  the  loveliness  that  within  me  glows 
•liKat  T^«+^^  bought,  make  me  stand  alone  among  mankind ;  so 
xnat  1  esteem  not  the  wealth  of  India,  nor  the  vast  empire  of  the 

359 


DUKES   AND   POETS   IN    FERRARA 

The  other  repeats,  but  with  an  entirely  different  accent, 
a  note  already  struck  in  one  of  the  most  justly  celebrated 
canzoni  of  Petrarca : — 

Ecco  la  pastorella  mena  al  piano 

La  bianca  torma  eh'  6  sotto  sua  guarda^ 

Vegendo  il  Sol  calare,  e  V  ora  tarda, 

£  fumar  V  alte  ville  di  luntano. 
Erto  se  leva  lo  arratore  insano, 

E  il  giomo  fugitivo  intomo  guarda, 

E  scioglie  il  jugo  a'  bovi,  che  non  tarda 

Per  gire  al  suo  riposo  a  mano  a  mano. 
Et  io  soletto,  sanza  alcun  sogiomo, 

De'  mei  pensier  co'  il  Sol  sosta  non  have, 

E  con  le  stelle  a  sospirar  ritomo. 
Dolcie  afianno  d'  amor,  quanto  6i  suave  : 

Chd  io  non  poso  la  notte  e  non  al  giomo, 

£  la  fatica  etema  non  me  d  grave  I  ^ 

A  religious  note  makes  itself  heard  at  intervals,  even  in 
the  first  of  the  three  books,  which,  though  perhaps  caught 
from  Petrarca,  need  not  necessarily  for  that  reason  be 
insincere.  Many  of  Petrarca*s  co-religionists,  without  being 
poets,  have  probably  repeated  to  themselves  his  famous 
sonnet  of  pentimento  in  Holy  Week.  At  the  close  of  the 
.  third  book  comes  the  summons  to  Rome — as  we  know,  in 
1471,   to  attend  on  Borso  in  his  coronation.     The  poet 

Scythian  King,  that  cannot  equal  one  sole  delight  of  Love." 
(Cam.  lii.) 

1  "  Lo,  the  shepherdess  leads  to  the  plain  the  white  flock  that  is 
under  her  charge,  seeing  the  sun  sinking  and  the  hour  late,  and  the 
mountain  hamlets  smoking  from  afar. 

"  The  wild  ploughman  raises  himself  erect,  and  looks  round  at  the 
flying  day,  and  loosensr  the  oxen  from  the  yoke,  hastening  at  once 
to  go  to  his  repose. 

"  And  I  alone,  without  any  resting-place,  have  no  pause  from 
my  thoughts  with  the  sun,  and  return  to  sigh  with  the  stars.  So 
sweet  is  Love's  gentle  torment,  that  I  rest  not  night  nor  day,  and 
the  eternal  labour  is  not  grievous  to  me."     (Cam.  clii.) 

260 


MATTEO  MARIA  BOIARDO 
professes  the  utmost  sorrow  in  being  thus  compeUed  to  leave 
»/  bel  voUo  (Antonia)  and  his  signore  (Ercole).  and  sings  the 
pains  of  parting  at  rather  unnecessary  length,  consoled 
somewhat  (so  at  least  a  sonnet  says)  by  seeing  the  former 
turn  pale  and  weep.  But  a  more  solemn  note  is  struck  at 
his  first  sight  of  the  Eternal  City,  in  prospedu  Rotnae  :- 

Ecco  r  alma  citt4  che  fu  regina 
Da  r  unde  Caspe  a  la  terra  Sabea  • 
La  triomfal  citU  che  impero  avea 
Dove  il  Sol  se  alza  insin  14  dove  inchina. 

Or  levo  fate  e  sententia  dlvina 
Si  1-  han  mutata  a  quel  ch'  esser  solea, 
Che,  dove  quasi  al  ciel  equal  surgea 
Sua  giande  alteza  copre  ogni  ruina. ' 

Quando  fia  adunque  pift  cosa  terrena 
Stabile  e  ferma  ?  poi  che  tanta  altura 
11  tempo  e  la  fortuna  a  terra  mena. 

U)me  posso  lo  sperar  gi4  mai  sicura 
La  mia  promessa  ?    Chd  io  non  credo  a  pena 
cue  un  giomo  intiero  amore  in  donna  dura.* 

He  confess^  to  a  certain  Battista  that  his  love  is  unaltered 
and  unalterable,  even  amidst  these  new  surroundings  and 
the  fesfavities  of  Borso's  reception.  Had  time  or  place  the 
^wer  to  change  or  free  him  from  his  bonds,  perchance 
Rome  would  have  done  so  :— 

Ma^nd  festa  regal,  ni  molto  joco. 
^  del  nuo  Duca  la  benegi^  cera. 


\ 


*  " Behold  the  tAeaa^  -x.    i.i.  * 
waves  to  the  land  ofs^K  '^.  ^  *^  'l"**"  fr°°*  *^*  ^^^ 
from  where  the  sun  il?     '  ^*  ^^""'Pl^ant  city,  that  held  emphre 

"Now  fickle  Sr^H?°-^''i""' •'*^**»- 
what  she  was  wont  te  k.  ^k" *      u^  *^^*  *=*^«*^  ^  ^  ^"^ 

since'S  S^foSieT  '^l  "^  «">-  ^  ^***^  ^^  ^• 
I  ever  hope  to  W?  J"*"*  ^"^^  ^^"^  ^^°^  to  earth  ?  How  can 
love  lasts  to  wor^r  ^  P«>m»se  safe  ?  For  hardly  beUeve  I  that 
love  lasts  m  woman  one  whole  day."     (^Cam.  clxix.) 

261 


DUKES    AND    POETS    IN    FERRARA 

Nd  in  tanti  giorni  questa  terra  altera, 
M'  hanno  ancor  tratto  de  Tusato  foco.^ 

Presently  he  declares  that  all  his  hoi>e  is  still  in  ErcoJe, 
"  my  gentle  lord,"  and  in  "  the  fair  face  where  still  my 
heart  hath  rest."  Then  come  sonnets  of  repentance  and 
renunciation  of  love.  They  are  somewhat  conventional 
in  expression,  but  there  is  no  reason  for  doubting  that 
Rome  had  a  solemnizing  effect  upon  the  mind  of  the  sen- 
sitive poet.  And,  after  an  allegorical  canzone  on  the 
treacheries  and  deception  of  passion,  he  turns  for  aid  and 
pardon  to  the  "  King  of  the  stars,  eternal  and  immorta]." 
This  concluding  sonnet,  however,  is  not  in  any  sense  a 
renunciation  of  love,  but  a  general  confession  oi  human 
sin  and  frailty  on  the  part  of  the  writer.  He  was  still  to 
glorify  love  in  the  Orlando  : — 

Amor  prime  trovd  le  rime  e*  versi, 

I  suoni,  i  canti  ed  ogni  melodia, 
£  genti  istrane  e  popoli  dispersi 
Congiunse  amore  in  dolce  compagnia  : 

II  diletto  e  il  piacer  isarian  sommersi. 
Dove  amor  non  avesse  signoria; 
Odio  crudele  e  dispietata  guerra, 

Se  amor  non  fusse,  avrian  tutta  la  terra. ^ 

A  new  epoch  in  Boiardo's  life  and  work  begins  with  his 
return  from  Rome  and  the  accession  to  the  throne  of  his 
friend  Ercole,  in  1471.   He  was  probably  present  in  Ferrara 

*  "  But  neither  royal  festivity,  nor  much  delight,  nor  the  gracious 
bearing  of  my  Duke,  nor  in  so  many  days  this  noble  town,  has  ye 
drawn  me  from  the  wonted  fire."     (Canz.  cixxi.) 

»  "Love  first  found  rhymes  and  verses,  music,  songs,  and  au 
melody ;  strange  folk  and  scattered  nations  hath  Love  conjoined  in 
sweet  company.  Delight  and  pleasure  would  be  drowned,  if  ^^'^ 
had  not  his  sovereignty  ;  cruel  hate  and  pitiless  war,  il  Love  were 
not,  would  possess  all  the  earth."    (Orl.  Inn,,  II.  iv.  2.) 

262 


MATTEO   MARIA    BOIARDO 

at  the  overthrow  of  the  Veleschi — an  event  which  he  hailed 
in  a  series  of  exultant  epigrams.*  His  love  for  Antonia 
Caprara  was  now  a  thing  of  the  past,  and  in  the  following 
year  he  married  Taddea  Gonzaga,  the  daughter  of  Count 
Giorgio  of  the  Gonzaga  of  Novellara. 

Attempts  have  been  made  to  weave  a  romance  roimd 
Boiardo's  marriage.    A  curious  allegorical  poem  in  terza 
ritna — the  sixth  of  his  Italian  eclogues — undoubtedly  be- 
longs to  this  epoch  of  his  hfe.    In  it  an  impassioned  hunter 
is  w^earied  to  death  with  pursuing  a  capro  formoso,  a  lovely 
goat,  than  which  "  a  more  beauteous  never  Jason  saw  in 
Crete,  nor  the  Trojan  youth  in  the  wood  on  Ida,"  and  of 
which  he  is  desperately  enamoured ;  but  the  fair  creature 
proves  inaccessible.     "  That  is  the  goat  of  Pan,  our  god,'* 
and  a  shepherd  shows  him  the  way  instead  to  a  mysterious 
white   marble  fountain,  where  he  may  slake  this  fire   in 
the  "  sweetest  and  clearest  water  of  the  world,"  though 
Love  is  hidden  in  the  trees  above  it,  and  shoots  through 
the  boughs  at  aU  who  approach.     It  has  been  plausibly 
suggested  that  this  is  an  allegory  of  the  poet's  marriage, 
and  that  the  shepherd,  in  whose  pastoral  costume  the  hun- 
ter is  to  approach  the  fountain,  is  Count  Giorgio  Gonzaga.* 
Be  that  as  it  may,  Boiardo's  bride  was  received  in  triumph 

*  They  are  eight  in  number  (pp.  473-475)  in  Solerti's  edition. 
One  of  the  shortest  will  serve  as  example  : — 

Quid  juvat  haec  garula  contendere  voce  profani 

Veligeri,  et  cunctis  dicere  vela  viris. 
Cum  tribuant  regem,  dyamantaque  numina  clament. 
Cum  dominum  Alcidem  mundus  et  astra  velint  ? 
*  Guide  Mazzoni,  on  the  Ecloghe  Volgari,  in  the  Studi  su  M.  M. 
Boiardo,  pp.    335-340.     The  poem  has  the  rubric  :  "  in  the  sixth 
Eclogue  a  wearied  himter  and  a  shepherd  speak  in  allegory,  hiding 
tlieir  names  even  as  the  matter  is  hidden."     The  reference  to  Pan 
is  an  echo  from  Petrarca's   sonnet,   Una   Candida  cerva :  *'  Libera 
farmi  al  mio  Cesare  parve." 

263 


DUKES    AND   POETS   IN    FERRARA 

at  Scandiano ;  he  appears  to  have  been  deeply  attached 
to  her,  and  the  marriage  proved  a  happy  one. 

In  1473,  Boiardo  was  one  of  the  splendid  company  that 
Ercole  sent  to  Naples,  to  bring  Leonora  of  Aragon  to 
Ferrara.  This  was  the  first  of  many  important  affairs  of 
State  in  which  he  was  employed  by  his  new  sovereign. 

In  September,  1473,  a  violent  quarrel  had  brokra 
out  between  the  municipality  of  Reggio  and  the  Pio  of 
Carpi,  the  subject  being,  of  course,  the  endless  question  of 
the  water  supply  of  the  city  and  the  canal.  The  Pio  even 
went  so  far  as  to  send  an  armed  force  to  cut  off  the  water, 
and  Boiardo,  who  had  promptly  offered  his  assistance  to 
the  Ancients  to  defend  the  rights  of  the  city,  appears  to 
have  driven  back  his  aunt's  kindred  by  force,  vi  et  arms. 
Whether  this  had  anything  to  do  with  what  followed,  or 
whether  the  Countess  was  actuated  by  the  desire  to  secure 
the  whole  of  the  Boiardo  fiefs  and  territory  to  her  own 
son  Giovanni  (who  was  always  hostile  to  his  cousin  and 
cruelly  robbed  his  family  after  his  death),  we  cannot  say. 
But  it  seems  fairly  certain  that,  at  the  beginning  of  i474' 
Count  Marco  Pio  himself,  her  brother,  with  her  own 
active  connivance,  suborned  two  men  to  take  Matteos 
life  by  poison.  One  of  these  two  was  a  trusted  servant  of 
the  poet,  un  suo  caro  famiglio ;  the  other  was  a  notary, 
Simone  Boioni,  either  his  or  Giovanni's  chancellor,  a  fellow 
whom  Matteo  Maria  had  loaded  with  benefits  and  marks 
of  favour.  The  famigliOy  whose  name  does  not  appear, 
was  to  go  to  Carpi,  get  the  poison  from  Count  Marco,  an 
then,  apparently,  Simone  was  to  administer  it.  ^^ 
when  the  time  came  for  the  man  to  start,  either  his  courage 
failed  him  or  he  repented,  and  he  revealed  the  whole  to 
his  master,  who  prepared  a  dramatic  coup  worthy  oi 

264 


MATTEO   MARIA   BOIARDO 

author  of  the  Orlando.    He  arranged  things  so  as  to  over- 
hear the  instructions  of  the  Countess  to  her  ministers  and 
fello^v-criminals,  and  let  the  repentant  servant  carry  out 
his  j>axt  of  the  design  and  go  to  Carpi  for  the  poison.    Then, 
when     he  had   all   the  evidence  in    his    hands,   Boiardo 
called  to  horse,  and,  with  the  servant  and  Simone  in  his 
train,  hastened  to  Ferrara,  and  related  the  whole  plot  to 
the   Dtike.     Simone  was  at  once  hurled  into  the  dungeons 
of  the  Castle ;  the  poison  was  tested  and  found  deadly. 
Count  Marco  was  summoned  to  the   ducal  presence,  and 
placed   under  arrest.*     Probably,  Boiardo  himself  refused 
to  take  any  proceedings  against  the  Countess ;  there  is  no 
evidence  that  she  was  in  any  way  called  to  account,  though 
it  was  known  and  admitted  that  she  had  been  her  brother*s 
accomplice. 

This  complete  escape  of  the  principals  from  chastisement 
was,  perhaps,  common  enough  in  those  aristocratic  days  ; 
but  Boiardo,  with  a  magnanimity  worthy  of  the  cortesia 
of  one  of  his  own  paladins,  obtained  that  the  same  grace 
should  be  extended  to  the  actual  instruments.  Simone's 
brother,  Boione  Boioni,  who  had  also  enjoyed  his  favour, 
was  one  of  the  Ancients  of  Reggio,  and  he  prevailed  upon 
the  Commune  to  intercede  for  his  brother  with  Matteo 
Maria  himself  and  with  the  Duke.  On  February  14, 
the  Ancients  wrote  to  Boiardo  a  piteous  appeal  on  behalf 
of  "  our  poor  and  unhappy  fellow-citizen."     "  It  would 

1  Our  only  authority  for  the  details  of  the  plot  is  a  letter  dated 
March  23,  1474,  in  the  Milanese  Archivio  di  Stato,  from  Antonio 
da  Correggio,  "Count  and  ducal  counsellor,"  brother-in-law  of 
Feltrino  Boiardo,  to  the  Duke  of  Milan,  Galeazzo  Maria.  It  is  given 
by  Ferrari,  op  dt.,  -pp.  34-35.  The  other  documents  were  first 
printed  by  A.  Catelani  in  his  pamphlet,  Sopra  un  attentato  alia 
vita  del  Conte  Matteo  Mafia  Boiardo  (Reggio,  1890- 

265  S 


IV 


1 


DUKES    AND    POETS   IN    FERRARA 

seem  a  hard  thing  to  ordtiiaiy  men  to  paidoo  so  great  an 
atrocity ;  bat  to  men  of  the  greatness  and  of  the  generosity 
of  soul  as  is  your  Magmficence»  it  is  a  natural  and  easy  thing 
to  forgive  the  whole  and  consign  it  to  oblivion.'*  They 
sent  another  appeal  for  mercy  to  the  Doke,  and  fervently 
conunended  their  envoy  and  the  cause  of  the  priscmer  to 
the  clemency  and  mnHnp^^Q  of  Boiardo  himsdf.  The 
worthy  citizens  knew  their  man.  The  horriUe  penalties 
of  the  law  for  pcrisoners  were  coomiuted  into  banishment, 
and  even  this  was  soon  remitted.  On  November  2,  i474' 
the  would-be  poisoner  wrote  from  Bagnolo  to  the  Ancients, 
expressing  his  ardent  desire  to  return  home.  The  Ancients 
had  already  petitioned  Ercole  for  a  complete  pardon,  and 
Simone  implored  them  to  write  on  his  behalf  to  Boiardo, 
to  beg  him  to  write  to  the  Duke  and  intercede  for  his  return. 
This  appears  to  have  been  done;  Simbne  was  restored 
to  his  country,  and  allowed  to  fill  the  honourable  offices 
of  the  Commune,  as  if  nothing  had  happened.  The  Duke 
only  insisted  that  he  should  pay  the  costs  of  one  of  the 
lawyers  employed  in  the  case !  He  even  sat  in  the  Counc 
of  the  Forty  in  Reggio  while  Boiardo  was  governor  of 
the  city.*  Nevertheless,  the  poet  afterwards  bore  the 
legal  profession  a  grudge : — 

Attend!  a  la  giustizia, 
£  ben  ti  guarda  da  procuratori, 
£  giudici  e  notai ;  chd  han  gran  tristizia, 
£  pongono  la  gente  in  molti  errori. 
Stimato  assai  d  quel  oh'  ha  piii  malizia, 
£  gli  awocati  sono  anche  peggiori, 
Che  voltano  le  leggi  a  lor  parere ; 
Da  lor  ti  guarda,  e  farai  tuo  dovere.* 

1  Catelani,  op.  cU. ;  Ferrari,  op.  cU.,  pp.  31-33.  ^^  and 

«  "  Attend  to  justice,  and  beware  of  procurators  ana  juu^ 

266 


MATTEO   MARIA   BOIARDO 

The  Duke,  hoping  to  heal  the  feud  in  the  family,  offered 
to  give  Matteo  Maria  double  in  the  Duchy  of  Ferrara,  if 
he  would  reUnquish  Scandiano.  But  the  poet  naturally 
declined.  In  1475,  the  dominions  of  the  Boiardi  were 
divided  between  him  and  Giovanni— the  latter  having 
Casalgrande  and  Arceto  with  three  smaller  places,*  Matteo 
Maria  being  henceforth  Count  of  Scandiano  alone.  He 
left  the  neighbourhood  of  Reggio  for  a  while  after  this 
attempt  on  his  Ufe,  and,  from  1475  to  1478,  stayed  with  his 
family  at  Ferrara,  in  a  palace  still  indicated  in  the  Via 
Ripa  Grande,  filling  some  position  at  the  Court  of  Ercole. 
In  his  absence,  the  Countess  Cornelia  Taddea  and  her  son 
made  themselves  disagreeable  to  the  people  of  Reggio, 
and  the  question  of  the  water  supply  from  the  Secchia 
pursued  him  even  to  the  capital.  In  a  letter  to  the  Ancients 
of  Reggio  from  Ferrara,  on  this  endless  theme,  Boiardo 
professes  hunself  entirely  at  their  service,  prays  them  to 
use  the  places  of  his  dominion  as  though  it  were  their  own 
district :  "  If  I  were  the  Emperor,  I  should  wish  to  be  a 
Reggian,  obedient  to  and  well-loved  by  my  native  city.'' » 
At  the  same  time,  he  was  engaged  in  literary  work,  trans- 
lating Herodotus  from  the  Greek  (of  which  he  knew  a 
httle,  but  not  enough  for  his  task),  and  writing  a  sort  of 
abbreviation  of  the  Golden  Ass  of  Apuleius.  He  had 
already  begun  his  great  poem  of  Orlando  Innamoraio, 
which  he  probably  read  aloud  as  he  proceeded,  canto  by 
canto,  to  the  Duke  and  the  courtly  gatherings  of  the  capi- 

notari^  ;  for  they  are  a  wicked  set,  and  lead  folk  into  many  errors  ; 
ne  who  has  most  malice  is  much  esteemed,  and  even  worse  are  the 
lawytts,  who  wrest  the  laws  to  their  opinion.  Beware  of  them, 
and  thou  Shalt  do  thy  duty."  (OrL  Inn.,  II.  xxviii.  51.) 
J  Arceto  is  down  in  the  plain  on  the  other  side  of  the  Tresinaro. 
Letter  of  August  2,  1477.    Campanini,  p.  3^4- 

267 


DUKES   AND   POETS   IN    FERRARA 

tal,  the  Signori  e  dame  e  bella  baronia  of  his  preludes.^ 
To  these  and  the  few  following  years,  before  the  outbreak 
of  the  disastrous  Venetian  war,  belong  the  first  two  parts 
of  the  poetical  romance. 

From  the  b^inning  of  1481  to  the  end  of  1482,  Matteo 
Maria  was  ducal  captain  of  Modena — the  most  turbulent 
and  factious  city  of  the  Estensian  dominions.  Hardly  was 
he  arrived  there  when,  in  February,  he  had  to  put  down 
a  tumult  with  a  strong  hand,  and  to  send  for  some  hundred 
or  so  of  his  own  armed  retainers  from  Scandiano,  to  secure 
the  punishment  of  the  chief  offenders,  whom  he  had 
hanged  from  a  window  of  the  governor's  palace.*  A  letter 
of  his  to  the  Duke  on  April  27  of  the  following  year,  just 
before  the  outbreak  of  hostilities  with  Venice  and  the  Church, 
gives  a  vivid  picture  of  the  times  and  of  the  poet's  own 
mildness  of  disposition.  In  consequence  of  the  murder 
of  a  certain  Centauro  da  Mocogno  and  his  companions,  the 
whole  of  the  Frignano,  the  mountainous  region  to  the  south- 
west of  Sassuolo,  is  up  in  arms,  part  on  one  side,  part  on 
the  other,  and  blood  has  already  been  shed.  It  is  useless 
sending  the  captain  of  the  district  to  the  disturbed  area 
with  twenty  or  thirty  men,  because  the  people  are  not 
afraid  of  him,  and  so  many  are  concerned  that  punishment 
is  out  of  the  question.  The  writer's  suggestion  is  that  the 
Duke  should  hold  out  hopes  of  a  complete  pardon  to  every 
one  involved,  and  so  bring  the  factions  to  some  sort  of  peace. 

1  Feltrino  Boiardo  had  previously  translated  the  Golden  Ass^  ^ 
we  learn  from  the  De  Politia  Litieraria,  i.  6.  Is  Matteo  Maria's  ver- 
sion, perhaps,  merely  a  revision  of  his  grandfather's  work?  ^ 
March,  1479,  according  to  the  documents  discovered  by  Bertoni, 
op.  cU.y  pp.  26,  27,  the  copyists  of  the  Duke  were  at  work  upon  both 
the  Orlando  and  the  translation  of  the  Golden  Ass. 

^  Jacopino  de'  Bianchi,  Cronaca  Modenese,  i.  pp.  47,  48. 

268 


MATTEO  MARIA   BOIARDO 

-LiJce  the  other  ducal  representatives,  Boiardo  has  been 
exaraining  the  artilleiy  of  the  various  forts  and  castles, 
evidently  to  see  what  can  be  spared  for  the  dfefence  of 
Ferrax"a  itself,  and  the  singer  of  jousts  and  paladins  is 
delightfully  vague  about  these  more  modern  implements 
of  war.  "  In  your  Rocca  of  Castellarano  your  most  illus- 
trious I-^rdship  has  five  or  six  iron  cannons ;  very  long, 
fine  and  good,  according  to  their  kind.  I  believe  that 
Count  I^renzo  Strozza  had  them  made.  I  do  not  know 
whether  I  should  call  them  bombarde  or  spingarde,  not  to 
make  a  mistake ;  but  they  seem  to  me  good  enough  cannon. 
If  you   should  need  them,  you  know  where  they  are."  * 

Druring  the  earUer  stages  of  the  war,  Boiardo  was  certainly 
at  Modena.  He  was  probably  still  there  in  November 
and  December,  when  serious  riots  broke  out  in  the  city 
and  district,  in  consequence  of  the  conveying  of  food  stuffs 
by  the  canal  in  boats  to  famine-stricken  Ferrara.  A  num- 
ber of  houses  and  palaces  were  sacked  by  the  hungry  mob, 
while  the  contadini  rose  in  arms,  plundered  villas  and 
buildings  in  the  suburbs,  an^  threatened  the  gates.' 

The  poet  probably  saw  active  service  in  the  war.  In  the 
following  year,  1483,  we  find  him  sometimes  at  Reggio 
and  Scandiano,  sometimes  with  the  Duke  in  the  capital. 
He  had  finished  the  first  and  second  books  of  the  Orlando, 
and  laid  down  the  pen  with  a  sigh,  on  the  outbreak  of  a 
real  war  instead  of  the  mimic  warfare  of  his  song  :— 

Non  saran  sempre  i  tempi  si  diversi, 
Che  mi  traggan  la  mente  di  sue  loco  ; 
Ma,  nel  presente,  i  canti  miei  son  persi, 
E  porvi  ogni  pensier  mi  giova  poco  ; 


\  Letter  of  April  27,  1482.     Campanini,  p.  385. 
Jacopino  de'  Bianchi,  pp.  67-71. 

269 


-H 


DUKES   AND   POETS   IN    FERRARA 

Sentendo  Italia  di  lament!  plena, 

Non  che  ora  canti,  ma  sospiro  appena. 

A  voi,  leggiadri  amanti  e  damigelle, 

Che  dentro  a'  cor  gentiU  avete  amore. 

Son  scritte  queste  istorie  tanto  belle, 

Di  cortesia  fiorite  e  di  valore  ; 

Ci6  non  ascoltan  queste  anime  felle^ 

Che  fan  guerra  per  sd^no  e  per  furore. 

Addio,  amanti  e  dame  per^rine, 

A  vostro  onor  di  questo  libro  d  il  fine.^ 

But  he  could  not  quite  doff  his  singing-robes,  so  turned  to 
celebrating  certain  phases  and  episodes  of  the  war,  in  Italian 
eclogues  in  terza  rima. 

Five  of  Boiardo's  eclogues  refer  to  the  war,  more  particu- 
larly to  the  middle  phase  of  the  struggle.  And  we  may, 
perhaps,  imagine  that  their  recitation  enlivened  the  sick- 
room of  Duke  Ercole.  In  the  first,  the  shepherd  Tytiro 
— ^who  is  evidently  Tito  Vespasiano  Strozzi — ^bewails  the 
ravages  of  the  Nemean  monster  and  the  destruction  of  his 
own  beautiful  villa  by  the  sea.'  But  Mopso  (Boiardo 
himself)  reads  upon  the  trunk  of  Apollo's  sacred  tree  a 
prophecy,  imitated  in  parts  from  Dante's  of  the  VeUro, 
A  mighty  leader,  inclyto  duce,  who  has  already  delivered 
Italy  from  the  Turks,  shall  put  to  flight  "  Dabnatians  and 
Slavonians  and  their  viler  lords  "  ;    with  his  aid,  Ercole 

*  '•  Not  always  will  the  times  be  so  discordant  as  to  draw  my 
mind  from  its  place.  But,  at  present,  my  songs  are  lost,  ^^  *J? 
devote  my  thoughts  to  them  avails  me  httle ;  hearing  Italy  full 
of  lamentation,  I  scarcely  sigh  now,  much  less  sing. 

**  To  you,  winsome  lovers  and  damsels,  who  have  love  witnin 
your  gentle  hearts,  are  written  these  goodly  stories,  adorned  wit 
courtesy  and  valour.  Those  feU  souls  do  not  hearken  to  them, 
who  make  war  for  disdain  and  ior  fury.  Addio,  lovers  and  beau- 
teous ladies,  to  your  honour  is  the  end  of  this  book."  {Ori  /**' 
II.  xxxi.  49,  50.) 

s  Cf.  Mazzoni,  op,  cii,,  p.  328. 

270 


MATTEO  MARIA   BOIARDO 

shall  hunt  back  the  savage  Lion  to  the  seashore  whence  it 
came.  In  the  second,  the  nymph  Galatea  rises  up  from  the 
Po  and  sings  a  piteous  lament ;  the  royal  deliverer,  the 
victor  of  Otranto  and  Poggio  Imperiale,  tarries  long ;  while 
"  the  fair  land  that  was  once  full  of  every  delight "  is 
ravaged  with  fire  and  sword  : — 


Aprete  celo,  e  voi  guardati  un  poco, 
Pietosi  Dei,  a  le  isole  del  Pado, 
Chd  per  tutto  d  roina  e  sangue  e  foco. 

Di  corpi  ocdsi  d  fatto  un  novo  vado, 
£  fame  e  peste  sceman  tntta  via 

^  Ogni  etade  ogni  sexo  et  ogni  grado. 

£  questa  quella  terra  che  solia 
£sser  spechio  de  Italia,  anci  del  mondo, 
A  li  omini  cortesa  et  al  eel  pia  ? 

Si  regal  corte  e  stato  si  jocondo, 
Tanti  trionfi  e  tanti  cavalieri 
Come  ha  sparsi  fortuna  e  posti  al  fondo  ? 

Le  large  slrate  or  son  stretti  sentieri, 
Arse  le  ville,  e  tra  la  gente  morta 
Stanno  or  le  serpi,  o  barbari  pid  fieri. 

Non  sei  del  tuo  periglio,  Italia,  accorta  ? 
Vedi  che  a  divorarte  el  Leon  ponge 
In  ogni  parte,  e  bate  a  questa  porta. 

La  soglia  de  la  intrata  ha  gi4  tra  ongie, 
E  ciascun  passo  fia  soluto  e  piano 
Se  quel  che  io  dico  a  tempo  non  vi  gionge. 

Ogni  rimedio,  ogni  altro  ajuto  d  vano, 
Perd  che  Alcide,  qual  era  restauro 
Al  danno  immenso  et  al  furor  insano, 

Non  da  Getico  dardo  o  stral  di  Mauro, 
Ma  da  febre  ferito  a  terra  giace, 
£  sieco  di  vertute  ogni  tesauro. 

O  se  risurga  quel  spirto  vivace, 
Creddti  che  il  Leon,  che  si  se  afretta, 
Non  fari  tal  fremir,  come  ora  face. 

Ma  tu,  perchd  non  vieni,  anima  eletta  ? 
£letta  in  terra  a  possider  vittoria, 
Perchd  non  vieni  a  chi  tanto  t'  aspetta  ? 

Ove  credi  aquistar  mai  piU  di  gloria, 

271 


DUKES   AND   POETS   IN    FERRARA 

Traendo  Italia  langnida  e  confusa 
Fuor  de  la  servitA  di  tanta  boria.^ 

The  third  eclogue  appears  to  be  of  earlier  date,  and  has 
no  connexion  with  the  war ;  two  shepherds  are  singing 
together,  in  somewhat  Virgilian  strains,  in  alternate  song, 
of  their  loves.  In  the  fourth,  we  have  a  lament  for  "  the 
bitter  capture  of  the  son  of  EJgeo,"  fallen  into  the  hands 
of  the  horrible  winged  Lion — evidently  Niccold  da  Cor- 
r^gio,  captured  by  the  Venetians  at  Argenta,  "  that  rare 
and  noble  spirit,  the  crown  of  virtue  " — and  a  prophecy  of 
his  speedy  deliverance  and  return, "  like  a  phoenix  that  by 

^  "  Open,  Heaven,  and  ye,  pitiful  gods,  look  down  upon  the 
islands  of  the  Po,  for  everywhere  is  ruin  and  blood  and  fire. 

"  A  new  ford  is  made  of  the  bodies  of  the  slain  ;  famine  and  pest 
on  all  sides  are  destroying  every  age,  each  sex  and  every  degree. 

"  Is  this  that  city  that  used  to  be  the  mirror  of  Italy,  nay,  of  the 
world,  courteous  to  men  and  faithful  to  Heaven  ? 

"  Such  royal  Court,  a  state  so  jocund,  so  many  triumphs  and  so 
many  knights — how  has  fortune  scattered  them  and  cast  them 
down  ? 

"  The  broad  ways  are  now  narrow  paths,  the  villas  are  burnt, 
and  among  the  dead  folk  are  now  serpents  or  barbarians  more 
fierce. 

'*  Dost  thou  not  perceive  thy  danger,  Italy  ?  See  how  the  Lion 
prepares  to  devour  thee  in  every  part,  and  beats  at  this  gate. 

"  The  threshold  of  the  entry  it  hath  already  in  its  claws,  and  each 
step  will  be  free  and  easy,  if  He  whom  I  say  cometh  not  soon. 

"  Every  remedy,  every  other  aid  is  vain.  For  Alcides,  he  that 
was  her  protection  against  the  immense  calamity  and  its  i^^ 
fury, 

"  Smitten  not  by  Thracian  dart  or  Moorish  shaft,  but  by  fever, 
lieth  prone,  and  with  him  every  treasure  of  virtue. 

"  Oh,  if  that  keen  spirit  rises  up,  be  sure  that  the  Lion,  who  thus 
presses  on,  will  not  rage  as  nt)w  it  doth. 

"  But  thou,  choeen  soul,  why  comest  not  ?  Chosen  on  earth 
to  possess  victory,  why  dost  not  come  to  him  who  awaits  thee  so  . 

"  Where  dost  thou  think  ever  to  win  greater  glory,  than  by  de- 
livering languid  and  harassed  Italy  from  the  servitude  of  sue 
great  pride  ?  "     {Ed.  ii.  70-105.) 

272 


MATTEO  MARIA   BOIARDO 

wW,!^J'  ''"'"'''•"     ^'  fi"^'  ^^'  ^  »  l°ve  poem,  in 
wluch  the  opening  lines  of  the  Canzoniere  are  quoted  as  if 

e!t^  Li    K^  ''""^*^  ^"^  "'  ^  *he  poem  already 

t^ ^d^  rreS^l^t^'  "'"^^'"  ^  '^ 
series     th*.  »!  •     '  ^'"''^  '^  °°«  °^  ^^  ^^^  of  the 

lamentini.  th.  a^    .  '^  '*^^^'  shepherds  are 

tity  nor  tothat  oTk     ,  ''  °°  '^'^^  '^^^  *«  her  iden- 

devastation  of  the  F^^  ^     !  *^*  accompanied  thQ 

on  the  other  hand  if!^  *'"^*T    ^^  "^^^  ^^^g^^' 
of  a  beautiful  girl'  :an^P;n.°;-«^« -the  marriage 

tenth  and  last  "  the  2h  ,     '°"'  ^"'''"°^-    ^°  *^^ 

panegyric  of  th.  ^^  '^^  ^^  OT>heus  sings  the 

entry  into  Fenia  .n.^      •  ^''*"^  *°    ^*°"^  *^"  his 

After  the  5^  ifT'''/"!'^  *"'^P'^^- 
noble  companVthat  at,^°^/"^'^°  ^°™^  «"«  °*  *he 

the  party.'    nJe     *    ^™*  ^'"'^^^  Ariosti  being  also  of 
poet  usually  resided  at  this  time  at  his 

*  Four  of  the  eclogues  ref  • 
between  the  middle  of  n^"°^  *^e  ^ar  must  have  been  written 
1483,  after  the  papal  chfl^™*  J'*^'^'  *"«'  the  end  of  January, 
first)  and  before  the arr^S?^!  ^l^^^  <^*l^h  is  referred  to  in  the 
pnte  the  tenth  a litOe la?^  and  fin'^s *^™ ^'^^ "'' ^-  3".  334. 
first  victories  over  the  \^n  «         •  *"«s»ons  in  it  to  the  Duke's 

five  are  probably  some  v^^  '?•  **'*'  ^P™»e  »*  ^483.    The  other 
whereas  the  Xatin  e^'^^*"  •^'**''     I*  «  curious  to  note   that  , 

ten    Italian     pastorSs^^l  ^'^  ^^*^  **  ^^^io  in  1500,  the       ,  ^-' 
century.  ««   remained  gnedited  until   the    nineteenth    <^-r 

Ferrari,  op.  cit-pT^o.  '- 

273 


1% 


DUKES   AND   POETS   IN   FERRARA 

own  castle  of  Scandiano,  where  he  was  probably  busy 
preparing  his  book  for  the  press ;  for,  at  the  b^^inning  of 
1487,  the  first  two  books  of  the  Orlando  Innamoraio  were 
published  in  Venice,  with  a  dedication  to  the  Duke  of 
Ferrara. 

In  January,  1487,  Boiardo  was  appointed  captain  oi 
the  city  and  duchy  of  R^gio,  a  post  which  he  filled  for 
the  rest  of  his  life.  On  February  i,  he  msAe  his  state  entry 
into  his  beloved  patria,  received  with  acclamation  and 
enthusiasm.  His  residence  was  not  the  usual  palace  of  the 
captain,  but  the  great  ducal  citadel — ^the  same  building  in 
which  Lodovico  Ariosto  had  been  bom  thirteen  years 
before.  The  government  of  R^gio  was  anything  but  a 
sinecure.  The  new  captain's  excessive  mildness  is  said  to 
have  led  to  hcence  and  disorder ;  he  had  a  rooted  objecticm 
to  inflicting  the  death  penalty  (so  at  least  sa}^  the  tradition, 
but  we  have  seen  an  instance  to  the  contrary),  and  the 
chronicler  Pandroli  declares  that  he  was  more  apt  for  com- 
posing songs  than  for  punishing  crime.  The  Venetians 
accused  him  of  sheltering  forgers  and  coiners.  He  was 
much  harassed  by  a  lawsuit  between  himself  and  Taddeo 
Manfredi,  and  even  more  by  the  perpetual  intrigues  and 
interference  of  the  ducal  commissary,  Messer  Bdtramino, 
a  Ferrarese  lawyer,  who  tried  to  undermine  his  authority 
and  insisted  upon  regarding  him  as  a  personal  enemy, 
although  Boiardo  wrote  to  the  Duke  that  "  from  me  he  will 
have  nothing  but  kindness  and  good  company."*  In 
another  strain  we  find  him  writing  to  Ercole,  about  a 
treatise  on  architecture  (evidently  the  famous  work  by 
Leon  Battista  Alberti),  recently  pubUshed  in  Florence ;  he 
is  unable  to  give  his  Excellence  full  particulars  about  the 
*■  Letter  of  March  26,  1492.  Campanini,  p.  404. 
274 


MATTEO  MARIA   BOIARDO 

construction  of  fountains  without  it,  "  because  I  have  not 
my  imagination  too  well  disposed,  owing  to  the  sickness 
that  my  wife  has,  who  is  very  ill  indeed."  ^ 

There  are  a  large  number  of  letters,  more  than  a  hundred 
still  extant,  written  by  Boiardo  while  captain  of  R^gio^ 
Most  of  them  are  addressed  to  the  Duke  himself ;  but  a  f e\ir 
are    to   the  Gonzaga,  to  various  Pod«tis  in  the  district  o£ 
Reggio,  and  others.     They  are  an  extraordinary  testimony 
to  the  minute  scrutiny  of  Ercole's  rule.    Nothing  is  too 
small  to  be  reported  to  the  Duke— even  if  the  writer  himself 
desires  leave  of  absence  for  a  day,  or  the  captain  of  the 
guard  in  the  citadel  wishes  to  go  home  to  bring  his  household, 
or  citizens  have  been  masquerading  against  the  r^ulations, 
or  the  friars  have  indulged  in  a  petty  squabble  in  some 
convent.     Several  letters  refer  to  criminal  processes.  One 
of  the  most  curious  is  the  case  of  a  Jew  who  has  had 
intercourse  with  a  Christian  woman,  Boiardo  as  captain 
substituting  a  fine  for  the  usual  death  sentence,  and  appar- 
ently getting  even  the  fine  remitted.      Another  concerns 
three    young  noblemen   of  Reggio  (including  one   of  the 
Malaguzzi),  who  have  carried  off,  not  entirely  without  her 
own   consent,  and  outraged  a  girl  named  Cassandra,  the 
daughter  of  Messer  Baldassare,  the  captain  of  Porta  Cas- 
tello.^     Others  deal  with  boimdary  disputes  in  connexion ' 
with  the  marchesato  of  Fivizzano,  which  was  adjacent  to 
the    Duchy  of   Reggio,   but   belonged   to  Florence.    For 

1  Letter  of  September  17,  1488.  Ibid.,  p.  393- 
*  Lf  ^^'^  o^  November  16  and  24,  and  December  16,  1493.  Cam- 
panini,  pp.  409-412.  This  Messer  Baldassare  is,  of  course,  the 
painter  and  medallist,  Baldassare  d'  Este.  A  letter  from  him  to  the 
Duke,  of  November  3,  1493,  crying  out  for  justice  upon  those  who 
had  mined  his  daughter,  is  given  by  Venturi,  L'  Arte  Ferrarese  nel 
periodo  d'  Ercole  I  d'  Este,  ii.  pp.  381,  382. 

275 


DUKES   AND   POETS   IN    FERRARA 

instance,  a  party  of  men  from  the  Reggian  town  of  Varano 
has  gone  to  cut  wood  in  a  bosco  on  the  frontier,  which 
is  also  claimed  by  a  townlet  just  outside  the  duchy 
called  Gruppo  San  Pietro,  and  has  been  assailed  by  the 
folk  of  the  latter  place, shouting,  "Havoc I  Havoc!  Marzocco! 
Marzocco !  "  Or  the  cattle  from  Varano,  feeding  over  the 
boundary,  have  been  lifted  by  the  people  of  Amelia ;  and 
in  each  case  the  poet-captain  .has  to  interfere,  to  prevent 
reprisals  and  political  complications.  Other  letters  deal 
with  hawks  and  hounds  and  horses,  and  one  is  about 
some  antique  medals  that  have  been  found  by  a  contadino, 
several  of  which  are  still  at  the  command  of  the  Duke. 

But,  even  with  all  these  multitudinous  cares  weighii^ 
upon  him,  Matteo  Maria  found  time  for  literature.  It 
was  probably  in  these  years  at  Reggio  that  he  translated 
the  Vitae  ExceUentium  Imperatorum  of  Cornelius  Nepos, 
and  wrote  the  Timone  for  the  Duke's  theatre  at  Ferrara. 
The  latter  work,  which  upon  a  mere  hypothesis  is  usually 
assigned  to  theyeari49i,is  written  in  fer^fa  n>»a,foundedupon 

a  Latin  translation  (perhaps  Aurispa's)of  Lucian's  dialogue, 
and  is  more  in  the  form  of  a  miracle-play  than  a  true  drama. 
It  has  small  poetic  and  no  dramatic  value ;  but  it  is  naturally 
pleasant  for  English  readers  to  see  Ariosto*s  forerunner 
also  heralding  Shakespeare.  Boiardo's  supreme  literary 
achievement  of  these  years  is  the  continuation,  the  nme 
cantos  of  the  third  part,  of  his  Orlando^  doomed  to  be  cut 
short  together  with  his  life  and  Italy's  liberty. 

Probably  there  was  no  one  more  interested  in  the  pro- 
gress of  this  poem  than  Isabella  d*  Este,  to  whom  Boiardo 
intended  to  dedicate  it  when  completed.    She  wrote  twice 
to  him  in  the  August  of  1491,  begging  him  to  send  her  tna 
part  of  the  work,  the  Inamaramenio  de  Orlando,  as  tbey 

276 


MATTEO  MARIA   BOIARDO 

called  it,  which  he  had  newly  composed,  promising  to  send 
it  back  at  once,  as  soon  as  she  had  read  it.  The  poet 
answered  that  he  had  composed  no  more  than  what  she  had 
already  seen,  when  she  was  at  Reggio  with  her  mother. 
*•  If  your  Excellence  would  like  to  see  that,  pray  mforai 
me,  for  I  will  have  it  transcribed  at  once  and  send  it  to 
you  ;  and  I  am  sorry,  to  content  you,  that  I  have  not  con- 
tinued the  work,  which  has  been  mtemipted  by  other 
occupations."  Of  course  Isabella  wanted  that  part,  as  she 
could  get  nothing  more,  and  begged  him  to  send  it  to  her 
in  order  that  she  might  read  it  another  time.  "  Most  illus- 
trious and  worshipful  Lady  mine,"  answered  Boiardo,  "  at 
present  I  have  no  copy  save  the  original  in  my  own  hand, 
which  would  be  difficult  to  read ;  but  I  will  have  a  copy 
made  of  it,  and  send  it  to  your  Ladyship  within  six  days  by 
a  special  mounted  messenger."  *  Every  modem  author 
will  realize  the  poet's  predicament. 

At  the  end  of  1493,  Boiardo  wrote  a  somewhat  pitifuUy 
worded  supplication  to  the  Duke,  beggmg  him  to  confirm 
him  in  his  offices  at  Reggio  in  the  usual  way.  But,  as  a 
rule,  his  service  and  adulation  (which  was  evidently  quite 
sincere)  by  no  means  impUed  blind  subservience.  On  one 
occasion,  the  Marquis  of  Mantua  told  Boiardo's  brother-m- 
law.  Count  Cristoforo  Gonzaga,  that  he  had  heard  from  the 
Duke  of  Ferrara  that  Boiardo  had  accused  him  (the  Count 
Cristoforo),  by  letter,  of  secret  negotiations  with  the 
Government  of  Milan.  "  If  any  one  has  told  your  Cdsitude 
this,"  virrote  Boiardo  to  the  Marquis,  "  on  behalf  of  the 
Lord  Duke  of  Ferrara,  he  has  departed  from  the  truth.     If 

^  Letters  of  August  8  and  17,  1491.  Campanini,  p.  404.  See  also 
Luzio,  IsabeUa  d*  Este  e  V  Orlando  Innamoraio,  in  the  Studi  su 
M .  M.  BotMrdo,  pp.  14^1 5^^  ^ijcre  the  text  of  Isabella's  two  letters  is 
given. 

277 


DUKES   AND   POETS   IN    FERRARA 

his  Excellence  himself  has  said  it,  I  keep  silent  and  say  no 
more."  *    A  few  years  later,  he  makes  a  dignified  answer 
to  an  accusation  of  the  Duke  himself  that  he  has  received 
and  sheltered  proclaimed  criminals  {banniii)  at  Scandiano 
and  places  governed  by  him.   "  Your  Lordship  should  hold 
for  certain  that,  while  I  am  in  this  place,  I  would  not  keep 
men  under  ban  in  my  house ;  if  I  did  not  act  thus  for  rever- 
ence of  your  Lordship,  I  should  do  so  for  my  own  honour."  * 
Throughout  the  fatal  year  of  1494,  we  have  an  almost 
continuous  series  of  letters  from  Boiardo  to  Ercole,  in  his 
capacity  of  governor  of  Reggio,  fuU  of  the  bustle  and  turmoil 
of  the  time.    Here  and  there,  especially  in  his  private  and 
confidential  correspondence  with  the  Duke,  the  poet-captain 
reveals    a    delightfully    satirical    humour.     A    Frandscan 
conventual,  Frate  Giovanni  da  Monleone,  who  appears  on 
the  banks  of  the  Secchia,  attended  like  a  grand  prelate 
rather  than  a  religious,  and  professes  to  have  been  summoned 
by  the  Pope  to  compose  the  differences  between  the  Kings 
of  France  and  Spain,  is  a  life*like  portrait  of  the  ecclesiastical 
political  wire-puller  of  the  epoch.®    When  **  Don  Juliano," 
captain  of  the  French  balestrieriy  comes  to  R^gio  with  his 
company,  Boiardo,  attended  by  Messer  Beltramino  and 
Sigismondo  Cantemo,  goes  to  drink  with  him  in  his  hostelry. 
He  describes  in  full  the  man's  swagger  and  pretentiousness, 
his  silk  doublet  all  stained  with  soup,  his  black  velvet  cloak 
blazing  with  jewels  which  "  Messere  "  thought  magnificent, 
but  which  his  superior  perceived  to  be  all  false,  his  fine 
show  of  plate  and  silver  which  was  of  the  same  value  as  the 
jewels,    "  His  conversation  is  exactly  like  his  equipment, 

*  Letter  of  May  7,  1489.     Campanini,  p.  397. 

*  Letter  of  May  30,  1494.     Ibid,^  p.  427. 
3  Letter  of  May  14,  1494.     JWrf.,  p.  424. 

278 


MATTEO   MARIA   BOIARDO 

e  wntes ;  "  your  Excellence  can  hear  all  about  it  from 
Messere.  I  do  not  think  that  I  shall  light  upon  another 
I>on  JuHano."  » 

ut  the  humour  soon  dies  awray.     Boiardo  paints  with 
S  t  but  firm  touches  the  incidents  m  the  passage  of  the 
royal  and  ducal  troops,  the  difficulty  of  finding  quarters 
and  supplies  for  them,  the  havoc  wrought  in  all  directions, 
e  misery  of  the  people,  the  brutalities  and  prepotency  of 
French,  the  inability  of  the  milder  Italian  officers  to 
^dH  ^^^   commands  obeyed,    Antisemitic  troubles  were 
added.     The  French  maltreated  and  plundered  the  Jews, 
Juid  on  one  occasion  would  have  butchered  one  in  the  street, 
»    certain  priests  had  not  come  to  the  rescue ;  a  friar  (the 
religious  of  the  duchy  apparently  differing  from  the  secular 
^  ergy  and  the  Duke  on  the  Semitic  question)  thundered 
^mst  the  Hebrews  from  the  pulpit,  until  Boiardo,  in 
Ercole's  name,  cautioned  him  to  moderate  his  eloquence.' 
Utterly  worn  out  by  his  labours,  Boiardo  was  now  rapidly 
breaking  down  in  health,  and  the  last  two  months  of  his 
We  were  occupied  in  a  feverish  attempt,  as  it  were  from 
MS  death-bed,  to  secure  the  town  and  marchesato  of  Fivizzano 
tor  Duke  Ercole,  in  the  general  dissolution  of  the  Floren- 
tine  territory  that   seemed   imminent.     From    MUan,  on 
ovember  7,  Ercole  wrote  cautiously  both  to  Boiardo  and 
to  the  Ancients  of  Reggio,  giving  a  sort  of  consent  to  the 
«:neme;  and  the  inhabitants  of  Fivizzano  itself,  who  had 
een  horribly  maltreated  by  the  French  in  their  passage, 
seemed  to  see  in  the  sway  of  the  House  of  Este  their  one 

thblto^^  ^"^**  ^^'   '494-     Ibid.,  pp.  444.  445-     But  when 
the  nenni    ^^*"**  8°*  ^  Modena,  he  made  a  great  impression  upon 
t^r-    ^^-  Jacopino  de'  Bianchi,  p.  120. 
i-erots  of  October  10  and  13.    Campanini.  pp.  452.  453- 

379 


DUKES   AND   POETS    I] 

hope  of  adequate  protection.     Boia 
at  once  opened  a  correspondence  w 
people  of  the  district.    But  they  Wi 
Malaspina,  who  entered  Fivizzano  ' 
were  in  progress;  and,  in  the  meai 
heard  of  what  was  on  foot,  and  formi 
Ferrarese    ambassador,  Manfredo    1 
returned  to  Ferrara,  and,  on  Decemt 
Reggio   received  a   strongly-worded 
censuring  them  in  the  most  seven 
ignorance  of  the  whole  negotiation, 
written  such  letters,"  he  said,  "  you  hi 
and  we  are  greatly  displeased.    We 
recall  those  letters,  and  to  write  to 
seem  best  to  you,  to  make  your  exc 

Thus,  with  his  last  effort  to  serve 
and  rejected,  his  mind  fuU  of  apprel 
land,  Boiardo  died  on  December  19, 
hour  of  the  night." 

Unfinished  though  it  be,  the  Orli 
landmark  in  the  history  of  Italian  lite 
speaking,  not  an  epic  of  any  kind,  b 
in  poetry.  We  have  seen  already 
the  legends  of  Charlemagne's  paladins 
exercised  over  the  minds  of  the  cava 
Ferrarese  Court,  the  zeal  displayed  b 
lecting  these  romances  and  adven 
original  French  or  in  Italian  translati 
A  few  months  before  her  appeal  to  E 

^  For  the  whole  episode  see  Campanini,  1 
di  Reggio,  in  the  Studi  su  M.  M.  Boiardo,  p 
letters  during  October  and  November,  pp. 

280 


MATTEO   MARIA   BOIARDO 

the  manuscript  of  the  additions  to  his  poem,  the  Marchesana 
IssLbella  had  entered  into  a  prolonged  and  animated  dis- 
cussion, both  by  word  of  mouth  and  by  letter,  with  Galeazzo 
Visconti,  as  to  the  rival  merits  of  Orlando  and  Rinaldo, 

she   herself  persisting  in  her  preference  for  the  latter 

hero,  while  Galeazzo  to  the  last  professed  himself  ready  to 
defend  the  honour  of  Orlando,  and  to  prove  to  her  Ladyship 
*'  that  there  has  never  been  a  man  equal  to  him  in  all  virtue 
and  valour."  i    The  Estensi  hailed  Ruggiero  as  their  ances- 
tor,  the  perfect  knight  and  paladin  of  Trojan  race ;  but 
their  Venetian  enemies  professed  to  attribute  to  them  a 
far  less  honourable  descent,  from  Gano  or  Ganelon,  and  the 
House  of  Maganza  (Mayence),  the  typical  traitors  of  the 
Carolingian  cycle.a    This  admiration  for  and  interest  in 
great  Charles  and  his  chivahy  was  not  confined  to  the  noble 
and  cixltured ;  the  people  loved  to  hear  the  songs  that  told 
of  the  doughty  deeds  of  the  paladins,  just  as  Manzoni's 
immortal  tailor  found  his  inteUectual  food  in  the  perusal  of 
the    Reali  di  Francia.    On  a  historical  occasion,   to  be 
described  later,  the  street  rabble  of  Venice  assailed  Duke 
Ercole  with  catcalls  and  yeUs  of  "  Maganzese."    For  the 
ArthuriaJi  romances,  however,  those  Ariuri  regis  ambages 
pidcherrimae,  as  Dante  called  them,  the  taste  was  entirely 
confined  to  the  aristocracy  of  the  epoch. 

Already  in  Tuscany,  for  the  delectation  of  Lorenzo  de' 
Medici  and  his  circle,  Luigi  Pulci  had  fused  some  of  the 

1  See  Lurio  and  Renier,  DeUe  Relazioni  di  Isabella  d'  Esie  Gonzaga 

con  Lodavtcoe  Beatrice  Sforsa,  pp.  100-107.     Cf.  Boiardo,  Orl.  Inn., 

'*^'  1  piloted  below).     The  letter  from  Borso  da  Correggio, 

^V^  ^   V  ^^  ^^  ^^^'  ^-  ^^''  P-  379,  and  translated  by  Mrs. 

Axly,  op.  cu^  p  206,  shows  that  the  latter  is  mistaken  in  identifying 

^  ^^?°    T^^  ^^  ^^^  ^  San  Severino. 
tPclo^,  p/sir*       ^"^^^^  Orlando  Fwrioso,  pp.  134-13/;  and  cf. 


281 


DUKES   AND   POETS 

matter  of  the  Carolingian  cycle,  la 
a  work  of  art.  Boiardo  went  fur 
fresh  life  into  the  stories,  and  tran 
spirit  drawn  from  the  Arthuria 
Brettagna.  Taking  his  heroes  from 
figm'es  of  the  personages  of  the 
investing  them  with  the  characi 
and  adventures  of  the  knights  an( 
Arthur,  adding  a  strong  infusion 
seen  as  with  the  eyes  and  rendered  s 
of  such  painters  as  Botticelli  and  P 
composed  his  poetic  romance.* 
Arthurian  legends,  and  the  new 
Renaissance,  are  fused  into  a  ha 
fierce  paladins  of  the  Emperor  are  ti 
errant,  and  Love  is  made  the  Ion 
Paynim  alike : — 

Non  vi  par  gi4,  signor,  mar£ 
Odir  contar  d'  Orlando  inna] 
Chd  qualunque  nel  mondo  ^ 
£  da  amor  vinto  al  tutto  e  : 
Nd  forte  braccio,  nd  ardire  a 
Nd  scudo  o  maglia,  nd  brand 
Nd  altra  possanza  pud  mai  £ 
Che  al  fin  non  sia  da  amor  I 

Thus  the  terrible  Orlando  himsel 
cesvalles,    the    thunder    of    whose 

*  Cf.  Rajna,  op.  ciL,  pp.  19-25,  and  his  1 
the  Studi  su  M.  M,  Boiardo,  pp.  129-134 
263-274. 

*  "Think  it  not  marvellous,  lordings, 
enamoured  ;  for  whoso  in  the  world  is  haug 
and  subdued  by  Love.  Nor  mighty  arm 
shield  or  mail,  nor  sharp  sword,  nor  any  otl 
him  from  being  at  the  end  beaten  and 
/nn.,  I.  i.  2). 

282 


i. 


! 


M 


S4r     ^^ 


^/&K^. 


MATTEO  MARIA   BOIARDO 

the  literature  of  the  Middle  Ages  to  find  an  echo  still  in 
Dante's  /w/^rw,  becomes  a  Tristram  or  a  Lancelot  for  the 
nonce ;  nay  more,  is  the  willing  amorous  slave  of  the  lovely 
Saracen  AngeUca.  The  innate  common-sense  of  the  Italian 
genius  keeps  the  poet  from  taking  the  more  extravagant 
exploits  and  adventures  too  seriously,  or  recording  them 
otherwise  than  to  raise  a  laugh  by  appealing  to  the  authority 
of  Turpin ;  whfle  his  native  cynicism,  or  perhaps  that  lack 
of  genuine  appreciation  of  mysticism  which  seems  ingrained 
m  the  Itahan  character,  draws  him  back  from  the  dizzy 
ascents  of  the  Quest  of  the  Holy  Graal.  No  hero  of  Boiardo's 
would  have  dreamed  of  setting  foot  "  in  the  city  of  Sarras, 
m  the  spiritual  place."  The  sanctity  of  a  Galahad  or  a 
Perceval,  the  repentance  of  a  Lancelot,  would  have  intro- 
duced an  utterly  discordant  note ;  and,  for  the  same  reason, 
we  should  seek  in  vain  through  his  stanzas  for  the  pity  and 
terror  of  the  fall  of  Guenevere.  They  are  as  lovers  and 
^kers  of  adventure  alone  that  the  warriors  of  the  Table 
Kound  appeal  to  the  Count  of  Scandiano  and  his  courtly 
audience :— 

Fu  gloriosa  Bertagna  la  grande 
Una  stagion  per  1'  arme  e  per  1'  amore, 
unde  ancor  oggi  U  nome  suo  si  spande 
«  Che  al  re  Artuse  fa  portare  onore, 
Waando  i  buon  cavalieri  a  queUe  bande 
Mostrarno  in  pO^  battaglie  U  suo  valore, 
Andando  con  lor  dame  in  awentura, 
*^  or  sua  fama  al  nostro  tempo  dura. 

Re  Carlo  in  Franza  poi  tenne  gran  corte. 
Ma  a  quella  prima  ncm  fu  somigliante, 
Benche  assai  fosse  ancor  robusto  e  forte 
Ed  avewe  Ranaldo  e  '1  Sir  d'  Anglante; 
FercM  toine  ad  Amor  chiuse  le  porte, 
E  sols,  dette  a  fc  battagUe  santeV 
Non  fu  di  quel  valore  o  quella  stima 
Wual  fu  queU*  altra  che  io  contava  in  prima, 
283 


DUKES   AND   POETS    I 

Perd  che  A  more  d  quel  cfa 
£  che  fa  Tuomo  d^^o  ed  on 
Amore  d  quel  che  dona  la  vil 
£  dona  ardir  al  cavaliero  arc 

And  again,  in  a  passage  which  h; 
trae  Arthurian  ring  : — 

U  vago  amor  che  a  sue  da 
Portarno  al  tempo  antico  i  a 
£  le  battaglie  e  le  venture  isi 
£  r  armeggiar  per  giostre  e  p 
Fa,  che  il  suo  nome  al  mondo 
£  ciaschedun  lo  ascolti  volent 
£  chi  pi^  r  uno  e  chi  piii  V  a 
Come  vivi  tra  noi  fussero  ano 

£  qual  fia  quel,  che  odendo 
£  di  sua  dama  cio  che  se  ne  di 
Che  non  mova  ad  amarli  il  co 
Riputando  il  suo  fin  dolce  e  fe 
Che  viso  a  viso  essendo  e  mat 
£  il  cor  CO  1  cor  pi^  stretto  a 
Ne  le  braccia  V  un  V  altro,  a 
Ciascun  di  lor  rimase  a  un  pui 

£  Lancilotto  e  sua  regina  be 
Mostrarno  V  un  per  V  altro  un 
Che  dove  de'  suoi  gesti  si  fave 
Par  che  d'  intomo  il  cielo  ardi 


1  "  Britain  the  great  was  glorious  once  wit 
still  its  name  resounds  so  that  it  brings  hone 
the  good  knights  in  those  regions  showed  its 
going  on  adventures  with  their  ladies;  ar 
our  time. 

"  King  Charles  afterwards  held  great  Coui 
not  like  that  former  one,  albeit  it,  too,  w 
strong,  and  had  Rinaldo  and  the  Lord  of  An 
the  gates  closed  to  Love,  and  only  engaged 
not  of  such  worth  or  such  renown  as  was  ihi 
told. 

**  For  Love  it  is  that  gives  glory,  and  tt 
and  honoured  :  it  is  Love  that  gives  the  vi< 
to  the  knight  in  arms  "  (Or/.  Inn.^  II.  xviii. 

284 


MATTEO  MARIA   BOIARDO 

-^'^S^i  avanti  adunque  ogni  donzella, 
Ogm  baron,  che  vuol  portare  onore, 
£t  oda  nel  mio  canto  quel  che  io  dice 
I>i  dame  e  cavalier  del  tempo  antico.* 

The  poem  opens  with  the  great  banquet  given  by  Charle- 
"^agne  at   Paris  to  the  flower  of  Christian  and  Saracen 
vairy.     Xhg  enchanting  sorceress  Angelica  appears,  at- 
tended   by    four  giants  and  her  brother    ArgaUa ;    she 
enamours  to  distraction  all  present  with  her  beauty,  especi- 
ally the  paladins  Oriando  and  Rinaldo,  and  the  Saracen 
erraguto ;  her  person  is  to  be  the  prize  of  the  man  who  shall 
unhorse  her  brother  at  the  Rock  of  MerUn,  the  unsuccessful 
to  remain  his  prisoners— the  whole  being  a  deep-laid  plot 
of  her  pagan  father  to  destroy  the  power  of  Charlemagne. 
For  Argalia  has  an  enchanted  lancq  of  gold,  against  which 
uo  knightly  prowess  can  avaU,  and  Angelica  has  a  similar 
ring  which,  worn  on  the   finger,  renders  all  enchantment 
useless  against  the  wearer,  and  carried  in  the  mouth  confers 
invisibility. 

From  this  beginning,   through  varied  and  comphcated 

.  -^^  ^^  love   that   knights   bore   to  their  sovereign   ladies 

n  tne  olden  time,  and  the  battles  and  strange  adventures,  and  the 

T^    ^^  ^  ^^^^^  ^^^  tourneys,  make  its  name  stiU  last  in  the  world, 

an  fh^     °°®  gladly  hears  of  it ;  and  one  honours  more  one  and 

^  A  H^^^^  cottier,  as  though  they  were  yet  living  among  us. 

tho  +^    ^  *^®  *  "^^°  ^**'  hearing  of  Tristram  and  of  his  lady 

e  tale  that   is   told,  is   not  moved  in  his  heart  to  love  them, 

toh!f  ^^^  ^^^  ^^^^  ^^^  ^^PPy  ?    For,  face  to  face  and  hand 

thn«        ^^^^  ^^^^  ^  ^®2ui:  in  close  embrace,  in  each  other's  arms 

vniis^mforted  they  died  together  at  one  moment. 

wortil^  «f^*  *oo  and  his  lovely  queen  showed  each  for  each  such 

^™'^**»  where  we  speak  of  their  deeds,  it  seems  that  the  sky 

everv  hn  ^"^^  ^^  ^^®*     ^^*  ®^®^  damsel  then  come  forward, 

sav    ^  1    ^"^  *^^*  would  gain  honour,  and  hear  in  my  song  what  I 

^ay  01  ladies  and  knights  of  the  olden  time  "  (Orl.  Inn.,  II.  xxvi. 

285 


DUKES   AND    POETS     I^ 

entanglement  and  enchantment,  the 
war  raised  upon  Charlemagne  by  Kin| 
for  the  sword  of  Orlando  and  the  he 
(when  this  is  brought  to  a  satisfactory 
wrought  by  Argalia's  lance  of  gold  in 
of  England)  the  subsequent  invasion 
Agramante  of  Africa  and  the  Saracen 
while  a  third  independent  struggle  rage 
of  Albracca,  in  which  Angelica  has  take 
she  is  besieged  first  by  Agricane,  King  c 
by  the  maiden  warrior  Marfisa,  in  whoi 
expressly  so  stated  by  Boiardo,  we  are 
Ariosto  to  recognize  the  sister  of  Ruggi< 
This  "  third  paladin,"  Ruggiero,  A 
is  descended  from  Hector  and  Alexander 
ancestor  of  the  House  of  Este.  He  doe 
the  second  part  of  the  poem,  when  he  i< 
about  to  accompany  the  Saracens  in 
France,  The  opening  of  the  third  part  si 
intended  to  bring  the  history  of  Rugg 
treacherous  murder  by  Gano  of  Magan; 
As  it  is,  he  only  gets  as  far  as  the  hero's  jE 
his  future  bride,  Brandiamante  or  Bradam^ 
sister  of  Rinaldo,  who  is,  of  course,  fighting  i 
side.  Ruggiero  has  interrupted  the  single 
her  and  Rodomonte  with  the  news  of  tl 
army  of  Charlemagne,  and,  as  they  bear 
pany  on  their  way,  the  youth,  who  sup 
companion  to  be  some  Frankish  knight,  tell 
of  his  family  and  his  upbringing  by  the  m 
The  girl  grows  madly  enamoured  of  him  as 
longs  to  make  him  show  her  his  face.    In 

286 


req^, 


MATTEO   MARIA    BOIARDO 

-    >  she  teUs  him  who  she  is,  and  suddenly  lifts  her 


Nel  trar  de  J   elmo,  si  scblse  la  trezza, 
<-n   era  di  color  d^  oro  a  lo  spleadore  : 
avea  il  suo  viso  una  delicate^za 
Mescolata  di  ardire  e  di  vigOTe  ; 
I  labbri,  n  naso,  i  cigli  e  ogni  fattez^a 
^arean  dipinti  per  le  man  d'  Amore 
^ti  (Kchi  avevano  un  dolce  tanto  vivo 
the  dir  non  puossi,  ed  io  non  lo  descr'tvo. 

Ne  r  apparir  de  J^aogelico  aspetto, 
juggler  nmase  e  vinto  e  sbigottito 
^  senttssi  trcmare  U  core  in  petto    ' 
i^arendo  lui  di  foco  esser  ferito  ■  ' 
^on  sa  piQ  Che  si  fare  u  giovinetto, 
^on  era  a  pena  di  parlarc  ardito, 
^n  Idmo  in  testa  non  1'  avea  temula, 
^^^mto  ^  mo  Che  in  faccia  1^  ha  vedyta 


^    poi  cominci6  :  Deh  I  bel  stgnore, 
Piacciavi  compiacermi  solo  in  questo 
^e  a  dama  alciina  mai  portaste  araore 
t.h     lo  vcda  il  vostro  visa  manifesto. 
^1  parkttdo  odimo  un  gran  rumore  ; 
^^  Ruggiero  :  Oh  Dio  I  che  sar4  questo  ? 
^esta  SI  volta  e  vede  gcnta  armati, 

^'^^  ^^orrendo  a  Jor  per  queiJa  strata,  i 


Ot  the  colour  and  «^nf  ^a  ^^I'^ct  her  hair  was  loosed,  which  was 

With  daring  and  viW  k ''^^'*^''^  ^^"^  face  had  a  deh'cacy  mingled 
feature  seemed  oaint^H  L  ^^'  ^^^  ^^^'  ^^^  eyebrows,  and  every 
living  s-'^^tness  th  I^-^  ^  **^^  ^^^^^  ^^  ^^^'     ^^^  ^Y^  ^^^  such 

••  Attbe  appearin     f^''''^^  °°*  ^  ^^^^  and  I  d^cribc  it  not, 
SLnd  dismayed  and  K^  tt^I  ^ngehcal  aspect,  Ruggiero  was  conquered 
-to   hitft  t^t  he  haH  k!1        ^^"^  trembling  in  his  breast,  it  seeming 
^^^^e  what  to  do    u    u     ^^^*^^d  with  fire.     The  youth  knows  no 

v^ea:  head,  he  had  not  f     '"'^^  "^^^^  ^  ^P^*"'     ^^^^  ^^^  ^^'^^*  *^^ 
Ixc^  in  the  l^ce  ^  **^ '  fordone  is  he  now  that  he  has  seen 

^       Lver  bore  love  to  any  lady,  let  me  see  your  face 
287 


W 


DUKES   AND   POETS 

They  have  fallen  into  an  ambixsl- 
that  follows  the  two  are  sepaxa.t:6cf 
never  see  Ruggiero's  face  unhelm< 
his  hand  to  finishing  the  poem. 

It  is  possible/as  has  been  sugg^este 
of  the  poem,  the  struggle  of  Charle 
assailants,  may  have  had  some  a.c 
contemporaries,  who  saw  their  civilii 
ened  by  the  Mussulman.  But  it  is  tl 
which  the  modem  reader  cares  least. 

Strane  av\'enture  e  battaglie  sli 
Quando  virtute  al  baon  teiiif>o 
Tra  cavalieri  e  dame  graziosc,^ 

— these  are  what  charm  us  in  the 
to-day.  Boiardo  finds  most  of  his  ch^ 
hand  in  the  old  romances ;  but  he  in 
adventures,  heaps  up  marvellous  and 
ments  and  sorceries,  some  of  which  ai 
air  of  reality  that  is,  for  the  momen 
ing.  And  he  is  an  excellent  story 
poetical  novette,  which,  however,  it  mu 
considerably  more  of  Boccaccio's  licence 
of  his  power  of  characterization.  He  is 
in  words,  showing  us  gardens  and  pala 
find  in  the  frescoes  of  Cosimo  Tura  a 
Cossa,   painting  figures  drawn  from  cla 

openly.'  As  she  spoke,  they  heard  a  great  noi£ 
'  Oh  God,  what  shall  this  be  ? '  Straightway 
armed  men,  who  come  rushing  upon  them  by 
Inn,,  III.  V.  41-43) 

^  "  Strange  adventures  and  amorous  bat 
flourished  in  the  good  time,  among  knights  am 
(OW.  Inn.,  III.  i.  4.) 

288 


MATTEO  MARIA  BOIARDO 
j^th  the  brush  of  a  BotticeUi  or  Piero  di  Cosimo.  There 
»s  absolutely  no  serious  intention,  no  shadow  of  philosophy 
o*  any  kind,  to  be  found  throughout ;  his  one  aim  is  to  keep 
»s  hearers  interested  and  amused,  to  whUe  away  the  time 
wlioi  It  hangs  heavy  upon  the  hands  of  the  princes  and 
nobles  for  whom  he  writes.  His  attitude  towards  women 
and  sexual  moraUty  in  general  is  frankly  cynical.  His 
virtue  of  virtues  is  fideUty  to  one's  sovereign  lord— though 
fte  lets  even  his  Orlando  desert  Charlemagne  for  the  love 
ot  Angelica.  Friendship  between  man  and  man  appeals 
most  deeply  to  his  inmost  nature  :- 

Pid  Che  a  tesoro  e  piil  che  forza  vale 
m  Che  a  dUetto  assai,  piA  che  1'  onore, 
11  buon  amico  e  compagnia  leale  ; 
*•  a  due,  che  insieme  si  portino  amore. 
Maggior  li  pare  U  ben,  minor  il  male, 
«)tendo  appalesar  1'  un  V  allro  U  core 

Poterlo  ad  altrui  dir  come  a  afi  stesso. 

Aver  alta  possanza  e  grande  state. 
««ando  SI  gode  sol,  senza  amicizia  ? 
if™  *^"  »*tri  non  ama  e  non  &  amato, 
won  puote  aver  compita  una  letizia.» 

co^i^°'wi'°^l  *'"'  »">»  I"-  «  !«»  al™»t 

BoiL    •  effective    characterization.     Although 

^lardo  IS  jusUy  entitled  to  the  merit  of  having  first  dis^ 

and  morf^^^^  ^°^  ^^^  feUowship  is  worth  more  than  fa-easure 
To  two  that  bve  ^'  ^^^^  ^^^^  ^^^  pleasure,  more  than  honour, 
since  each  can  n  ®^^J^.®^^^»  weal  seems  greater  and  woe  seems  less, 
seldom  or  nf+       x     ^  ^^^^  ^^  *^  <^^^y  <^0"l>t  that  rij^es,  be  it 

"  What  hon^'  •     ^^^^  as  to  himself, 
power  and  M^f  1+^  ^""^  "^^^  ""^  P^^  ^^^  ^^^^^  *^  ^^^^  '*^% 
•^"P  ?    He  wh     1         ^^^  *^®^  ^^  enjoyed  alone  without  friend- 
one  iov  rvsJ^i  X  ?y^  ^o*  another,  and   is  not  loved,  cannot    have 
J  y  complete.'^    (OrL  Inn.,  IIL  vii,  1-2O 

289 


'I 


DUKES   AND    POETS  IN 

covered  in  the  firmament  of  love  ' 
men  mad,  Angelica's,"  he  is  incapable  o 
and  self-consistent  character.  No  do 
cal  analysis  in  the  case  of  an  Orlando 
be  out  of  place  in  a  poem  of  this  kind 
something  of  it  in  Ariosto),  but  Boi 
conceive  of  them  save  as  puppets  to  b( 
ful  game.  He  invests  them  with  all 
qualities  from  canto  to  canto,  to  suil 
vellous  adventures  that  he  has  founc 
is  the  same,  but  to  a  lesser  extent,  wit 
Rinaldo,  Marfisa  (an  invention,  har< 
poet's  own),  Rodomonte,  Agraman 
less  contradictory,  because  less  full 
appeal  to  us  as  human  beings.  Br 
lover  of  Fiordelisa  and  the  devote 
the  most  conceivable  and  sympatl 
minor  personages,  and  one  whom  Be 
follows  with  affection. 

There  is,  however,  one  noticeable  c 
lack  of  characterization  :  the  ever-d 
paladin,  Astolfo,  though  he  is  onl; 
and  dainty,  a  mere  carpet-knight 
special  strength  or  skill  in  arms, 
good  humour  and  dauntless  couraj 
after  danger,  courting  fall  after  f al 
of  Argalia  falls  into  appropriate  1 
idea  of  its  powers  when,  at  the  toi 

*  G.  A.  Cesareo,  indeed,  in  his  spiri 
iasia  deir  Ariosto  (in  the  Nuova  Ante 
goes  so  far  as  to  assert  that  Boiardo 
another  man. 

290 


MATTEO   MARIA   BOIAiRDO 

of  Christendom  are  falling  before  the  gigantic  paynim 
Grandonib,  and  he  goes  out  to  encounter  him  without  the 
slightest  prospect  of  success  :— 

Nd  gUi  si  crede  quel  franoo  barone 
Aver  vittoria  contra  del  pagano ; 
Ma  sol  con  pura  e  buona  intenzione 
Di  far  il  suo  dover  per  Carlo  Mano. 
Staya  molto  atto  sopra  de  V  arcione^ 
E  simigliava  a  cavalier  soprano ; 
Ma  color  tutti  che  V  han  conosciuto, 
Diceano  :  O  Dio  I  deh  mandaci  altro  aiuto  !  i 

He  can  hardly  believe  his  own  eyes  when  he  sees  the 
giant  fall.     But,  after  that,  though  exceedingly  marvellous 
to  every  one  else,  it  seems  quite  natural  to  him  that  he 
should    overthrow  everybody  that  ventures   to  break  a 
lance  with  him,  and  his  natural  disposition  to  brag  finds 
its  justification.    He  harbours  no  resentment  against  the 
Emperor  for  his  imprisonment,  and  but  little  against  Gano 
for  his  treachery  and  description  of  him  as  the  buffone  of 
the  Court ;  but,  while  Charlemagne  and  the  rest  are  wild 
with  indignation  and  apprehension  at  the  way  this  pazzo 
has  intervened  and  staked  their  Uberties  upon  his  own 
prowess,  he  unhorses  :the  victorious   Gradasso,  and,  after 
a  not  too  prolonged  jape  at  their  expense,  frees  them  aU. 
And  in  this  spirit  he  goes  through  the  whole  romance. 

Endowed  with  a  marvellous  faculty  of  invention,  Boiardo 
had  neither  the  imagination  nor  the  creative  power  of 
Ariosto.  MoraUy,  no  less  than  artistically,  the  Orlando 
Innanmato  is  on  a  much  lower  plane  than  the  Furioso. 

^  '  ^^J^^^®^  does  that  brave  baron  think  to  have  the  victory 
agMist  the  pagan,  but  solely  with  pure  and  good  intention  to  do  his 

^*7iir  ^^"^^®-  ^*g^*  fi™ly  ^^^  ^®  ^  ^^  saddle,  and 
seemed  hke  a  sovereign  knight ;  but  all  those  who  recognized  him 
saia  :    Oh  God,  pray  send  us  other  aid  I '  "    (Ori.  Inn,,  I.  ii.  66.) 

291 


DUKES   AND   POETS   IN 

Yet  there  is  one  respect  in  which  the 
contrasts  favourably  with  Messer  ] 
Torquato  Tasso,  as  also,  it  must  be  < 
sage  and  serious  poet  Spenser."  There 
in  the  Innamorato  than  in  their  poems, 
confined  to  three  places.  When  youn 
to  cross  from  Africa  to  France  with  ti 
King  Agramante,  the  necromancer  I 
future  glory  of  the  House  that  the  you 
the  Christians,  and  the  mighty  deeds 
Estensi.*  This  is,  undoubtedly,  in  it 
with  the  general  purpose  of  the  fal 
passages  of  the  kind  are  dragged  in, 
without  rh5nne  or  reason.  In  the  m 
Fata  Febosilla,  the  valiant  Brandimai 
of  his  struggles  with  the  evil  enchant 
sees  a  loggia  of  which  the  four  sides 
paintings  representing  the  exploits  of  f 
House,  one  side  devoted  to  each  :  Aldo 
the  imperial  armies, "  at  the  Adda  in  t 
Azzo  Novello  and  the  famous  defeat  of  E 
Niccold  III  in  his  youth  triumphing  o 
grimage  to  the  Holy  Land,  his  recepi 
France  ;  the  early  career  of  Ercole  hims< 
presents  his  son-in-law  with  a  pavili< 
Sibyl  of  Cumae  has  worked  "  great  d 
drous  histories,  and  days  present  an< 
Here  are  the  figures  of  twelve  Alfonsos 

*  OrL  Inn.,  II.  xxi.  55-59. 

s  Ibid.,  II.  XXV.  42-56.  Boiardo,  doubtle 
the  style  of  the  frescoes  of  the  Schifanoia.  H 
the  glories  of  the  House  of  Este  is  somewh 
old  Duke's  death  we  find  no  mention  of  hii 

292 


MATTEO   MARIA    BOIARDO 

Castile,  ancestors  of  the  Duchess  Leonora;  Alfonso  the 
Magnanimous  and  Alfonso  of  Calabria,  her  great-grand- 
father and  father ;  the  young  hereditary  Prince  of  Ferrara. 
The  praises  of  King  and  Duke  are  sung  in  no  measured 
terms,  but  there  is — if  I  mistake  not — a  ring  of  genuine 
f eehng  in  the  picture  of  the  boy,  Alfonso  d'  Este  :— 

Avanti  a  lui  si  stava  inginocchiata 
Buona  Ventura,  lieta  ne*  sembianti, 
E  parea  dire  :  Dolce  figliol,  guata 
A  le  prodezze  de  gli  avoli  tanti, 
A  la  tua  stirpe  al  mondo  nominata  ; 
Onde,  fra  tutti,  fa  che  tu  ti  vanti 
Di  cortesia,  di  senno  e  di  valore, 
Si  che  tu  facci  al  tuo  bel  nome  onore.* 

These,  however,  are  surely  little,  when  compared  with 
the  extravagant  flattery  addressed  later  on  by  Ariosto  to 
the  Cardmal  IppoUto,  or  with  Spenser's  hardly  less  fulsome 
laudations  of  Queen  EUzabeth. 

The  struggle  with  Venice  had  interrupted,  the  French 
invasion  now  finally  cut  short,  the  Orlando  Innamorato. 
A  few  months,  or  perhaps  weeks,  before  his  death,  the  pen 
had  dropped  from  Boiardo's  hand ;  the  noble  poet  was  too 
full  of  apprehension  for  his  native  land,  too  sick  at  heart 
to  carry  out  his  story  :— 

Mentre  che  io  canto,  O  Dio  Redentore, 
Vedo  r  Italia  tutta  a  fianuna  e  foco, 
Per  questi  Galli,  che  con  gran  valore 
Vengon,  per  disertar  non  so  che  loco. 


Before  him  was  kneeling  Good  Fortune,  joyous  in  her  sem- 
blance. *  Sweet  son,'  she  seemed  to  say,  *  look  at  the  mighty  deeds 
ot  such  great  ancestors,  and  at  thy  race  renowned  in  the  world.  Where- 
iore,  among  aU,  make  thyself  gk)rious  for  courtesy,  for  wisdom  and 
tor  vatour  ;  so  that  thou  mayst  do  honour  to  thy  fair  name.'  " 
{Ofl.  Inn.,  II.  xxvu.  59.) 

293 


DUKES   AND   POETS 

Perd  vi  lasrio  in  <|iiicsto  vsjh 
Di  mordespina  aidente  a  pen 
Un'  aUxa  fiata,  se  mi  fia  coi 
Raoooutefovvi  fl  lulto  per  es 

Harshly,  indeed,  did  fate  deal  wii 
descendants  and  in  his  poetiy.     Hj 
CamiUo,  died  in   1499.     Count  Gic 
oat  the  poet's  widow  Taddea  and 
Scandiano,  and  deprived  them  of 
**  she  and  the  daughters  lack  even 
them  to  live."  '    Some  thirty  years 
took  the  Orlando  Innamoraio  in  hand 
fifadmenio  was  read  in  the  place  < 
Bemi  diluted,  altered,  and  utterly  sf 
its  pathos  was  lost  on  the  men  of  a  ne\) 
preponderance  and  the  presence  of 
armies  upon  Italian  soil  had  come 
natural  order  of  things. 

^  "  Whilst  I  sing,  O  God  Redeemer,  I  se< 
fire,  through  these  Gauls  who,  with  great  va 
what  place  I  know  not.  Wherefore  I  leave 
Fiordespina  gradually  burning.  Another  ti 
me,  I  will  tell  you  the  whole  in  full."    {On 

s  See  the  letter  of  April  13,  1504,  from  1 
Ercole  on  Taddea's  behalf,  in  Bertoni,  op.  a 


294 


Chapter  IX 
THE  DUKE  AND  THE  FRIAR 

^J^HIS  friar  of  ours,  Girolamo  Savonarola,"  wrote  the 

f    A-  ■^^'^arese  ambassador  in  Florence,  Manfredo  Man- 

'  5°    I>uke  Ercole  on  December  lo,  1494.  « has  so 

much  influence  and  such  great  following  in  this  city,  that 

it  is  a  most  stupendous  thing."    And,  a  few  days  later,  he 

v/tote  ^ain,  describing  the  great  work  that  Savonarola  was 

doing :     "  He  aims  at  nothing  save  the  good  of  all,  seeking 

for  union  and  peace,  being  convinced— as  is  the  truth— 

that  the   city  cannot  otherwise  live  in  tranquillity  and 

repose."  » 

From  Ferrara  itself  the  victorious  progress  of  the  King 

of  France  through  Italy  had  been  watched  with  considerable 

popular  sympathy.     Ercole,  perplexed  and  hesitating  in  his 

policy,  was  having  artillery  of  all  kinds  cast  with  the  utmost 

celerity,  to  be  prepared  for  whatever  emergency  the  morrow 

might  bring  forth.    He  probably  dreaded  an  attack,  from 

Venice,  and  certainly  knew  that  he  was  condemned  by  the 

public  opinion  of  almost  all  Italy.    The  Pope  professed 

liimself  amazed  at  the  cowardice  of  the  Italians.     "  May 

God  pardon  the  Lord  Lodovico  and  the  Duke  of  Ferrara," 

sleZ^^^  °*  December  10, 15,  and  so.  CappeUi,  Fra  Girolamo 

295 


! 


DUKES  AND  POETS  IN 

he  said  to  Pandolfo  CoUenuccio,  wh 
view  with  him  in  Ercole's  name,  "  w! 
of  this."  And  when  Pandolfo  tried 
Pope  showed  himself  convinced  thai 
authority  could  have  prevented  Lod< 
the  French.  Pandolfo  declared  that 
his  best,  but  Alexander  shrugged  hi 
not ;  all  the  same  he  is  greatly  blame 

Ercole  kept  in  constant  touch  wit 
advance,  through  his  son  Ferrando,  t< 
sent  money  by  means  of  letters  of 
Rome,  where  the  King  stopped  froi 
January  28.    But  when  Charles  left 
towards  Naples,  Don  Ferrando  remain 
on  the  plea  that  he  had  not  enough 
to  follow  the  Court  with  sufficient 
had  not  paid  him  his  allowance.    Ei 
sent  one  of  his  secretaries,  Giovanni 
Rome,  provided  with  a  letter  of  en 
ducats,  and  armed  with  his  paternal 
young  prince  to  Naples  and  present  h 

"  All  these  things,"  he  wrote,  "  ha\ 
ceed  from  your  own  negUgence,  and  : 
give  yourself  to  idleness  and  to  avoi( 
you  had  followed  the  Most  Christiar 
duty  and  our  intention,  you  would  ha> 
sooner ;  the  Majesty  of  the  King  woul 
you  would  have  given  him  occasion  to : 
when  Messer  Sigismondo  Cantelmo  ar 
letter  of  exchange  for  five  hundred  du< 

^  See  the  long  dispatch  of  November  6, 
Ercole.    Balan,  v.  pp.  414-415. 

296 


THE  DUKE  AND  THE  FRIAR 

^^  foUow  the  Most  Christian  King  and  not  stay  there 
conip  °°*^^  •  ^^  "  y°"  ^^^  °°*  &<*  ®"  ^th  aU  your 
'"^thS^h  ^^  °^^^  ***  ***^®  ^°°®  '"^^  ^°^  °^  ^^®  horeemen 
^^lom  V        ^^""^  ^^'  ^"^  *°  '^^^^  ^*  hither  those  for 

^^"  WonlH  k  *  ^°^*^y'  ^^^''^  yo"  have  spent  more  than 
^^^iness  ,  '**'°®  ^  foUowing  the  King.  If.  by  your 
^^^ristian  K    °^^^*'*'  y°»^  *<>se  the  support  of  the  Most 

^'^'^  you  h!^'  ^°"  *^  ^^^*^^  °*  **  ^***  **™®'  ^^  yo"  wilJ 

•^°*''  j^  ^***  not  lost  it.  Keep  weU  in  mind  what  we  teU 
*^°P«  for  aalZ^  ""^  ^^'^^  ^°"  ^°^  *^  opening,  do  not 
''■eatment."  1     *°^  *^°™  "*'  ^^®  *  ''^^  welcome  and  harsh 

^e'^dinan'j!^  *^®  "^'^^  °^  *e  flight  of  the  young  King 

*^®  *'^uniph^*^^°^  **''°'"  ^^"^  ^<*  abdicated-and 

^495),  the  Dia   ^^  ^^  Charles  into  Naples  (February  22, 

^«g  has  con^*^*  ^  immensely  edified,  declaring  that  the 

^°<J."  and  that  ^^^  ^^^"^  *^^  "  "^  *  messenger  sent  from 

cruelties  piactis   '*  ^  *  ^"**  Punishment  for  the  abominable 

the  former  of  ^f^  ^^  *^®  ^*®  ^*ng  Ferrante  and  by  Alfonso. 

the  Venetian  w         *"  ^^  further  states  was  responsible  for 

of  Rovigo,  whi^  gainst  Ercole  and  the  loss  of  the  Polesine 

The  turn  of  th  ^^  *^**  caused  the  Venetians  to  retain. 

God  that,  in  a  f  ^    Venetians  will  follow.    "  But  I  hope  in 

restored  it  freel  ^^^  ***^'  *^^'  **^®^  ^*^  ^^  *^**  *^^^  ^^ 

give  it  back  to^v.***  °^  ^^'^  *®  ^^^®'  ^*^  '^^^  ^^^  "^ 

seems  come  whe^^  ™°"  *^^  ^^^^^^ '   ^^'^  """^  *^®  *^® 

France  will  takj^    ^"^  "^  ^"""^  *^^'  *°'*  ^^  ^'"^  °* 

land  and  in  C      *'**™  *^^™  '^^^^  *^®y  ^*^®  ^°  *^®  ™*™ 
ypr^is,  and  ahnost  up  to  Venice,  for  theii 

1i  Modena.  Carieg^  T^S^^  ^^"'^  '7.  X495. 


their 
Archivio 


297 


u 


DUKES   AND    POETS 

inestimable  pride  and  haughtiness, 
merable  vices  and  sins.  Since  this 
there  has  alwajrs  been  the  most  bea 
and  there  have  been  no  snows  nc 
hardly  any  rain.  Praise  be  to  Go 
Diarist  written  this,  when  the  weathe 
out  the  following  month  terrible  st 
snow  swept  over  Italy — phenomena 
explanation. 

Hearing  of  the  King's  uninterrn 
expressed  his  "singular  pleasure  i 
sent  Ferrando  a  letter  of  congratul< 
Majesty,  as  soon  as  he  should  find 
presence  :  "  Let  him  understand  th 
surpassed  in  this  joy  and  gladness." 
his  father  a  very  contrite  epistle  a 
Rome,  which  the  Duke  received  kindly 
"  If  you  behave  as  you  have  behave 
hope  to  be  loved  by  us."  However^ 
Ferrando  and  the  secretary  that  they  1 
and  that  the  former  had  been  very  k 
King  and  Court,  and  expressed  his 
understood  from  the  letters  of  our  sec 
Ferrando,  "  that  you  have  begun  to 
and  with  diligence,  and  to  do  what  pe 
we  have  been  greatly  pleased  and  conte 
commend  you  for  it,  and  we  tell  you  th 
in  being  diligent  and  assiduous  in  the  s 
and  be  prompt  and  ready  at  the  Court, 
you  will  do  a  benefit  to  yourself  and  a  j 

*  Diario  Ferrarese,  col.  2 
298 


THE  DUKE  AND  THE  FRIAR 

as  we  shall  be  displeased  if  you  act  otherwise."  *  He  bids 
Mariano  congratulate  the  King  on  the  conquest  in  his  name, 
as  he  doubts  not  that  Don  Ferrando  has  already  done,  and 
is  sending  Bonifazio  Bevilacqua  and  Giulio  Tassoni  as 
special  envoys  for  the  same  purpose.*  For  fear  of  com- 
promising himself  too  deeply,  he  recalled  these  latter  at 
once,  as  soon  as  they  had  performed  their  mission. 

The  easy   triumph  of  the  ultramontane    invader    had 
thoroughly  alarmed  all  the  other  Italian  Powers,  although 
Lodovico  Sforza  assured  the  Venetians  that  he  "  would 
find  means  to  send  the  King  home  with  empty  hands." 
Ferdinand  of  Spain  and  the  King  of  the  Romans,  the  only 
foreign  sovereigns  who  had  a  stake  in  the  peninsula,  began 
to  fear,  the  one  for  Sicily  and  Sardinia,  the  other  for  the 
imperial  crown.    The  conduct  of  the  French  had  further 
exasperated  the  temper  of  the  people.    There  was  a  general 
assembling  of  ambassadors  and  envoys  at  Venice ;  while 
Comines— who    had   been    sent    thither  by  Charles  from 
Asti  in  the  previous  autunm — strove  his  uttermost  to  pre- 
vent the  League  from  being  concluded,  warned  the  King  of 
what  was  on  foot,  urged  the  Duke  of  Orleans  (who  had 
turned  back   after  the  capture  of  Rapallo   in  September) 
to  be  on  his  guard  at  Asti,  and  the  Regent,  the  Duke  of 
Bourbon,  to  send  reinforcements,  "  because  that  place  being 
lost,  no  aid  could  come  to  the  King."     Late  at  night,  on 
the  last  day  of  March,  the  League  was  concluded.     "  The 

1  Letters  of  March  1,17,  and  29,  1495^  In  a  letter  of  April  9, 
he  gives  him  permission  to  tilt  in  a  giostroy  which  is  "  an  honourable 
thing  and  not  too  dangerous/'  but  strictly  forbids  him  to  take  part  in 
any  vray  in  another  which  is  to  be  held  at  Easter  with  battle-weapons, 
"because  it  is  dangerous  and  little  honourable."  Archivio  di 
Modena,  Carteggio  dei  PHncipi, 

*  March  18,  1495.    Archivio  di  Modena,  MintUario  Cronologico. 

299 


DUKES   AND    POETS 

next  morning,"  writes  Comines,  ** 
earlier  than  they  were  accustomed, 
and  set  down,  the  Doge  told  me  ths 
Trinity,  there  was  a  League  concl 
Father  the  Pope,  the  Kings  of  th 
them,  and  the  Duke  of  Milan,  for  t 
for  the  defence  of  the  estate  of  C 
Turk  ;  the  second,  for  the  defence 
for  the  preservation  of  their  own  es 
me  to  advertise  the  King.  They 
number  of  a  hundred  or  more,  and 
countenances,  and  sate  not  as  they 
tised  me  of  the  taking  of  the  castl< 
told  me,  moreover,  that  they  had 
sadors  that  were  with  the  King,  to 
return  home ;  their  names  were  M 
and  Master  Dominic  Trevisan.  I  wj 
with  this  news,  for  I  stood  in  doi 
person  and  of  all  his  company,  si 
have  been  readier  than  indeed  it  was 
I  feared  further  lest  the  Almains  h 
not  without  cause;  for  if  they  had 
had  never  departed  out  of  Italy."  * 
The  ambassador  of  Naples — for  tl 
was  still  represented  in  Venice — | 
"  and  showed  a  cheerful  countenance 
to  do,  for  these  were  good  news  for  hi 
Comines  watched  the  procession  < 
ambassadors  along  the  canal,  "  witl 
one  of  the  Milanese,  who  had  hithert< 

^  MSmoires,  vii.  15.     Throughout  this 
translation  of  1596,  with  slight  modificat 

300 


THE  DUKE  AND  THE  FRIAR 

^^^Sijms  with  him,  "  made  a  comitenance  now  as  though  he 

^«^:xiew  me  no  more."    On  April  2,  the  Visdomino  of  the 

'Venetians  in  Ferrara,  robed  in  crimson  velvet,  formally 

announced  to  Ercole,  on  the  part  of  his  government,  that 

the  League  was  concluded,  and  that  he  and  the  Florentines 

would  have  to  stand  alone,  unless  they  joined  it.   A  few  days 

later,  the  League  was  published  in  all  the  cities  of  theVenetian 

Republic,  with  the  greatest  triumph  and  solemnity.    It  was 

poor  consolation  for  Comines  that  at  night,  after  viewing 

the  pageants,  the  ambassador  of  the  Turk  "  came  to  talk 

with  me  by  means  of  a  certain  Greek,  and  was  with  me  four 

hours  in  my  chamber,  being  very  desirous  that  his  Prince 

and  the  King  my  master  might  enter  together  into  amity."  * 

Ercole  was  profoundly  perplexed.    In  a  somewhat  in- 

efiectual  way,  he  had  striven  against  this  League  from  the 

beginning.    As  early  as  December,  when  the  rupture  between 

Lodovico  Sforza  and  the  Most  Christian   King  seemed 

imminent  (II  Moro  being  indignant  because  he  had  not 

received  Sarzana  and  Sarzanello,  for  which  he  had  lent  the 

King  a  laige  siim,  and  because  the  latter  had  treated  his 

ambassador,  Galeazzo  da   San    Severino,  discourteously), 

Jacopo  Trotti  had  urged  the  former,  in  Ercole's  name,  to 

keep  loyal  to  France.    The  result  was  that  Trotti  had  been 

kept  in  the  dark,  and  only  gathered  from  the  long  and  secret 

interviews  of  the  Venetian  ambassadors  with  Lodovico  that 

something  of  the  kind  was  in  progress:*    Ercole  realized 

that,  if  it  came  to  war,  the  actual  burden  of  assailing  the 

French  would  fall  entirely  upon  the  Italian  States  of  the 

^I-^^gue,  and  he  was  bent  upon  keeping  out  of  it,  while 

remaining,  as  far  as  possible,  neutral.    Since  his  wife's 

*  MimoirBS,  vii.  15  ;  Diario  Ferrarese,  col.  298. 
"  CI.  Balan,  v.  pp.  419,  437. 

301 


1 1 

0^ 


i 


r 


m 


ikfeft. 


\Vt^-\ 


t'. 


»l^ 


If  I- 


At 


ii .     I 


•'1 


1  I 


!.'  r 


I     1 


^ 


m-  k 


DUKES   AND   POETS  IN  FER 

death,  he  had  had  no  one  by  him  upon  whom 
he  had  become  incapable  of  taking  decided  a( 
moreover,  grown  scrupulously  reUgious.  Cl< 
S3nmpathy  with  the  new  theocratic  republ 
Florence,*  he  was  disposed  to  accept  Fra  ( 
phecies  concerning  the  sacred  mission  of  the 
On  April  13,  the  day  after  the  pubhc  proc 
League,  he  perplexed  his  subjects  by  on 
procession  through  all  the  city  of  Ferrara, 
any  cause  or  reason — though,  Zambotto 
guessed  that  it  was  done  because  of  the  i 
thing  that  has  not  much  pleased  our  Di 
interests/*  *  He  kept  the  Ferrarese  feast  < 
the  Venetian  feast  of  St.  Mark  with  increase 
on  the  latter  occasion  sent  his  trumpete 
Don  Alfonso,  when  the  banner  of  Venice  wa 
to  the  church  of  the  saint  in  Ferrara.  W] 
in  touch  with  the  French  King  at  Naples 
the  Doge  through  his  ambassador  at  Veni 
di  Guidone,  his  great  joy  at  the  conclusion  c 
wrote  to  the  same  effect  to  the  Pope,  offe 
in  Ferrara,  if  the  movements  of  the  Frenc 

*  One  of  the  French  officers  at  Naples  offere 
Antonio  Mariano,  to  sell  Fivizzano,  and  the 
Lunigiana  that  had  belonged  to  the  Florentines, 
promptly  revealed  the  whole  thing  to  Neri  Capj 
ambassador  with  the  French  King,  and  Rrcole 
his  action.  **  It  seems  to  us,'*  he  wrote,  *'  tha 
spoken  to  him  better  than  you  have  done  ;  \>c 
friendly  terms  as  we  are  with  that  lofty  Repub 
prdsperity  and  convenience  no  less  than  vre  dc 
not  have  anything  to  do  with  matters  tliat  v 
them  displeasure."  Minute  Ducali  of  April  ^ 
Modena,  Minutario  Cranohgico. 

*  Zambotto,  f .  2721; ;  Diario  Ferratesfi,  col. 

302 


THE  DUKE  AND  THE  FRIAR 


to  leave  Rome.*  Nevertheless,  the  people  of  Ferrara  were 
enthusiastically  French  in  their  sympathies ;  they  still 
affected  French  costumes,  looked  askance  at  the  Visdomino, 
and  shouted  "  Franza !  Franza !  "  after  him  in  the  street. 
Reports  of  all  kinds  floated  wildly  through  the  peninsula. 
Venice  and  Milan  were  arming ;  there  were  rumours  of  stupen- 
dous preparations  in  France  to  cross  the  Alps  in  defence  of 
the  King.  "  The  Venetians  never  ceased  to  speak  evil  of 
Duke  Ercole  and  of  his  subjects,  and  to  work  them  harm  ; 
and  they  had  among  themselves  invented  a  song  thereon, 
that  ran  :  0  guerra  o  non  guerra,  Ferrara  anderd  per  terra  ; 
so  great  is  the  hatred  they  bear  us.  But  I  think  that  this 
present  year  will  not  pass  before  they  will  be  utterly  undone, 
by  reason  of  their  passing  great  and  incredible  pride,  by 
the  aforesaid  King  of  France."  * 

Ercole  began  to  reaUze  that,  in  the  event  of  the  triumph 
of  the  League  over  France,  he  would  be  left  alone  among 
the  princes  of  Italy,  with  Milan  alienated,  to  face  the 
hostihty  once  more  of  Rome  and  Venice.  On  the  evening 
of  May  9,  a  secretary  of  the  French  King  arrived  at  Ferrara, 
late  after  night-fall,  and  demanded  an  instant  audience. 
The  Duke  with  some  difficulty  put  him  off  until  the  morrow, 
when  the  Frenchman  gave  him  to  understand,  in  the  name 
of  the  King,  that  his  Majesty  intended  to  return  peaceably 
to  France,  *'  without  harming  or  injuring  any  person  what- 
ever," and  thought  of  taking  the  route  of  Florence  and 
Bologna,  in  which  case  the  King  requested  a  free  passage 
through  the  Duchy  of  Ferrara,  with  provisions  for  his  forces 
on  the  way.    Ercole  answered  that,  as  to  the  passage,  his 


v^       **'''   ^>«*^«   of  AprU  14  and    May  2,  1495. 
Alodena,  Minutario  Cronologico. 
Diario  Ferrarese,  col.  303. 

303 


Archivio  di 


DUKES   AND   POETS   IN 

Majesty  could  have  it  as  he  pleased  ; 
it  was  quite  impossible,  because  the 
troops  in  the  past  year  had  utt 
country,  and  left  it  in  the  greatest  f^ 
informed  Lodovico  Sforza  of  the  dema 
and  communicated  the  matter  Hkewis 
at  Milan  and  Venice.* 

The  danger  seemed  imminent ;  from 
feared  lest  he  should  be  compelled  t< 
one  side  or  the  other.  At  last  he  dec 
to  the  man — his  own  subject — ^who  wai 
in  the  counsels  of  the  Most  High  than  ot 
to  Fra  Girolamo  Savonarola  for  guidar 

"  We  hear,"  he  wrote  to  Manfredo,  ' 
Frate  Girolamo  Savonarola,  our  Ferrs 
there  at  Florence,  has  said  things  publi 
them  in  his  sermons — ^things  which 
needs  of  Italy,  and  it  seems  that  he  thr 
of  Italy.  And  because,  as  you  know,  h 
and  a  good  religious,  we  greatly  desire 
said  and  is  saying,  and  all  the  details  uf 
We  wish  you  to  go  to  him,  and,  in  our  n 
you  something  about  these  needs  and  ^ 
happen,  and  especially  about  our  afl 
diligently  inform  us  of  all  that  you 
certain  that  he  will  willingly  satisfy  this 
of  us  and  because  of  his  goodness,  and 
his  native  land,  which  he  must  still  ha 
will  all  be  most  grateful  to  us."  An( 
adds  :    "  Besides  what  we  write  to  y 

*  Letter  from    Brcole  to   the   Duke   of 
Archivio  di  Modena,  Minutario  Cronologico. 

304 


THE  DUKE  AND  THE  FRIAR 

teU  you  to  learn  diligently  what  the  said  Prate  Girolamo 
preaches,  and  the  threats  that  he  makes,  and  what  he 
beUeves  about  our  affairs,  and  exhort  him  to  pray  to  our 
Lord  God  for  us  and  for  these  our  peoples,  in  order  that 
His  Divine  Majesty  may  have  mercy  upon  our  errors.  For 
we  hope  greatly  in  his  holy  prayers."  » 

Thus  instructed.  Manfredo  had  a  long  interview  with 
Savonarola  on  May  17.  The  Friar  professed  himself  unable 
to  give  an  immediate  answer  to  the  Duke's  demands.  "  I 
must  first  pray  to  our  Lord  God,"  he  said,  "  that  He  may 
enlighten  me  and  enable  me  to  tell  his  Excellence  those 
things  which  shaU  be  to  the  salvation  of  his  soul  and  the 
^nservationofhisState,with  the  satisfaction  of  his  subjects. 
Wh^  I  have  done  this,  I  shall  write  with  my  own  hand  to 
JUS  Excellence."  He  still  regarded  himself  as  the  Duke's 
subject  and  Ferraxa  as  his  native  land,  and  seemed  convinced 
tiiat  with  the  grace  of  God,  he  could  help  both  in  this 
matt^.  "especially  knowing  how   devout   his  ExceUence 

nT »    tI!**^^  "^*'  *"  """^  ^^"^  "»y  '^t'^^^  sovereign  in 
h-  ^\^  ambassador  could  get  nothing  more  out  of 

wm  about  Ferrara ;  but  he  informs  the  Duke  that  the  Friar 
IS  stUl  keeping  the  Florentines  on   the    side   of    France, 
showu^  them  that  this  Most  Christian  King  by  aU  means 
10  reform  the  Church,  and  to  be  most  victorious  in  all 
"^  ^dertakings.*'  * 

J^e  much  desired  letter  from  Savonarola  to  Ercole  was 

fredo^  r  ^^  ^^'    ^*  ''^  inclosed  in  a  dispatch  from  Man- 

'  '^^^^^•^tents  were  to  be  kept  a  strict  secret,  and  Ercole 

of  hia*Sl2l^^thi'Jl'*^^  5*PP*"i.<'^«'-.P-34S.   Ercole  speaks 
his  th4  dacl^       ^'^'  *^"*'  ^*  ^'"«'«^  ^^  inhabitants  of 
'>^tchofMay,8..,,s.     /W^..  pp.  347.  348- 

305 


DUKES   AND   POETS   I 

probably  destroyed  it  as  soon  as  reac 
been  found  among  the  others  in  tin 
The  next  day,  Manf redo  called  upon  t 
in  Florence,  who  had  just  returned 
whither  he  had  been  sent  by  the  Kin{ 
to  return  to  the  obedience  and  gove 
tines.  In  answer  to  his  inquiries  as 
doing,  Manf  redo  assured  his  Magniii 
keeping  absolutely  neutral  and  attei 
his  own  State.  The  Frenchman  higl 
of  his  Excellence,  adding  that  he  kn 
great  love  and  aifection.  He  was  an 
friend  to  both  parties,  should  medial 
and  the  Duke  of  Milan  for  the  peac 
he  said,  it  would  be  impossible  to  i 
forcements,  that  were  hurrying  towar 
King,  turn  back  when  they  reached  A 
that  the  real  difficulty  lay  in  the  King 
the  Duke  of  Milan  and  would  int 
intervention ;  but  the  French  amb 
admitting  that  his  countrsrmen  had 
in  Italy,  said  that  they  were  all  so 
France  that  each  one  would  exhort 
any  arrangement  that  might  be  pre 

From  Ercole's  answer  to  Savonar< 
clear  notion  of  what  the  Friar  must 

"  We  have  received  your  letter,  a 
well  understood  what  you  have  writ 
concerning  those  things  that  we  des 
and  we  have  noted  the  remedies  i 
charity  and  love.  Your  letter  has 
^  Dispatch  of  May  22, 1495.  / 
306 


i 


THE  DUKE  AND  THE  FRIAR 

us,  and  we  thank  you  much  for  writing ;  and  we  axe  well 
satisfied  thereat,  for  it  seems  to  us  that  your  suggestions 
are  full  of  prudence  and  charity.  And  although  we  know 
ourselves  to  be  sinners,  nevertheless  we  shall  strive  with  all 
our  power  to  adhere  to  your  suggestions,  and  to  use  those 
remedies  that  you  propose  to  us.  And  you,  for  love  of  us 
and  for  the  sake  of  your  native  land,  will  not  fail  to  offer 
prayers  to  our  Lord  God,  that  He  may  lend  us  grace  to  be 
able  to  do  all  those  good  works  that  are  acceptable  to  His 
Divine  Majesty  and  for  our  preservation  and  the  benefit  of  our 
peoples.  Right  grateful  to  us,  too,  will  be  that  little  book 
which  you  say  you  will  send  us  ;  and  so  we  pray  you  to  send 
it  to  us,  when  you  have  finished  it,  for  we  are  expecting  it 
with  desire."  * 

In  the  meanwhile,  Charles  had  taken  alarm,  and  decided 
to  make  his  way  back  to  France.    Towards  the  end  of  May, 
he  left  Naples,  leaving  garrisons  behind  him  and  Gilbert  de 
Bourbon-Montpensier  as  his  viceroy,  and  entered  Rome  at  the 
beginning  of  June,  the  Pope  having  fled  from  the  city  at 
his  approach.    Comines,  who  had  previously  been  recalled 
from  Venice,  reached  Ferrara  on  the  evening  of  June  i. 
Ercole  came  out  to  meet  him,  and  gave  him  a  magnificent 
reception.    The  next  morning, "  Duke  Ercole  went  to  find 
the  ambassador  in  his   room,  and  together  they  went  to 
Mass  in  the  chapel  of  the  Duke,  which  the  Duke's  own 
choristers  sang.    And  then  the  Duke  embraced  the  said 
ambassador,  accompanied   him  to  his  room  and  left  him 
there  to  breakfast.     The  ambassador  was  right  welcome  to 
all  the  Ferrarese,  because  the  King  is  much  loved  by  Duke 
Ercole,  and  the  Ferrarese  also  are  loved  by  the  King." 

1  Letter  of  May  26,  1495.     Ibid,,  p.  351.     The  book  in  question 
is  the  Italian  version  of  the  Compendium  Revelationum. 

307 


1 


y       \ 


DUKES    AND    POETS  IN  FE! 

Ercole  rode  with  him  all  over  Ferrara  and 
Barco ;  they  held  long  secret  converse  in  tl 
upon  the  garden,  where  the  Duke  passed  tb 
June  4,  Coniines  went  on  his  way  towai 
Duke  and  his  ifingmAn  riding  with  hun 
"  with  trumpets  and  pipes  and  great  love. 
From  Bologna  Comines  went  to  Florenc 
with  Savonarola  :  "  I  asked  him  whether 
pass  out  of  Italy  without  danger  of  his  ] 
great  preparation  the  Venetians  made  ags 
he  discoursed  perf ectlier  than  m3rself  that  < 
He  answered  me  that  the  King  should  1 
upon  the  way,  but  that  the  honour  ther 
though  he  were  accompanied  but  with  an 
that  God,  who  had  guided  him  at  his  c 
protect  him  at  his  return.  Adding  not 
because  he  had  not  done  his  duty  in  the 
Church,  but  had  suffered  his  men  to  spoil 
as  well  those  that  took  his  part  and  \ 
him  into  their  cities,  as  his  enemies :  G 
sentence  against  him,  and  would  sh* 
Nevertheless,  he  bade  me  tell  him  thai 
compassion  on  the  poor  people,  and  ex 
keep  his  men  from  doing  evil,  and  puni 
he  was  bound  by  his  office  to  do),  that  th< 
His  sentence,  or  at  the  least  mitigate  it 
that  he  ought  not  to  think  it  a  sufficiei 
his  own  person  did  no  harm.  He  said, 
self  would  go  and  tell  the  King  thus  i 
he  did,  and  persuaded  with  him  to  re 

*  Diario  Ferrarese,  coll.  30^ 
308 


THE  DUKE  AND  THE  FRIAR 

places  to  them.  When  he  spake  thus  of  God's  sentencCp  the 
death  of  my  Lord  the  Dauphin  came  suddenly  to  my 
mind."  ^ 

At  Siena— where  Comines  met  the  King  and  the  latter 

•*  solaced  himself  with  the  dames  "—they  heard  news  which 

precluded  all  possibility  of  a  peaceful  passage.    The  Duke  of 

Orleans,  who  had  been  reinforced  at  Asti,  had  taken  the 

oflfensive  and  occupied  Novara  (June  ii),  in  spite  of  the 

express  commands  of  the  King  not  to  attempt  anything 

against  the  Duke  of  Milan.     Charles  "  therefore  was  well 

assured  that  the  Venetians  would  declare  themselves  his 

enemies  :   for  they  sent  him  word  that,  if  he  invaded  the 

Duke  of  Milan,  they  would  aid  the  Duke  with  their  whole 

force,  according  to  their  League  lately  made,  and  their  force 

was  great  and  in  a  readiness.'' "    He  at  once  left  Siena  and 

moved  on  to  Poggibonsi,  where  Savonarola  met  him  and 

dissuaded  hidi  from  his  purpose  of  restoring  Piero  de'  Medici, 

Avoiding  Florence,  the  King  pressed  on  to  Pisa,  where  he 

left  a  garrison,  and  advanced  thence  through  the  Lunigiana 

towards  Parma. 

Ercole,  under  pressure  from  Milan,  had  promised  to  send 
Don  Alfonso  with  a  considerable  force  to  the  army  of  the 
l^e^g^^t  as  a  kind  of  counterbalance  to  the  presence  of  Don 
Fcrrando  on  the  other  side-^    But  the  continual  passing  of 

*  Mimaires,  viii.  2. 
«  Ibid.,  viii.  3. 

^^^^*^^s  dispatch  to  Jacopo  Trotti,  of  May  31,  1495,  Ercole 

sutcs  that  he  cannot  lend  the  Duke  of  Milan  anymore  Ught  horse  ; 

t      k     ^  a^ut   forty   mounted    balestrietri  (crossbowmen)  left, 

ti «!  ^^y®  keeps  near  him  for  his  personal  guard  when  he  goes 
out  01  Uie  city  or  rides  in  the  Barco,  chiefly  because  of  the  machina- 
twns  against  his  person  of  the  Da  Groppo  of  the  Padovano,  "  of 
wfiom  yon  know  Several  were  hanged  here  at  Ferrara,  when  there 
was  the  afiair  of  Messer  Niccold  da  Estc/'  and  the  Cotrnts  of  San 

309 


DUKES    AND    POETS   IN   FE 

envoys  and  messengers  between  Ferrara  J 
camp,  the  Duke's  refusal  to  go  in  person  to 
in  sending  Alfonso  and  the  hostile  bearing 
towards  the  Visdomino,  had  roused  suspici 
tion.  At  Venice  there  was  much  talk  of 
disposition  and  perpetual  animosity  towar( 
of  his  plotting  with  France  against  it ;  and, 
Venetian  ambassadors,  passing  through  I 
way  to  Bologna,  would  not  leave  their  cam 
respects  to  the  Duke.  "  His  Lordship  an 
were  hated  by  all  Italy  universally."  *  Al 
Milan  at  night  on  June  15,  with  the  Coun 
chetti  and  thirty-five  persons  of  his  house 
soldiers  to  follow  him.  He  took  no  subsec 
campaign,  but  remained  in  Milan  as  lieuten; 
council  and  governor  of  the  citadel. 

Seriously  alarmed  at  the  threats  of  the 
had  put  troops  into  the  Polesine,  Ercole  i 
that  he  would  give  him  every  aid  in  the  rec 
and  protested  to  Venice  that  he  would  lend 
ance  to  the  French  in  their  passage.  But 
him.  At  the  instance  of  Lodovico,  as  also 
of  his  own  subjects,  he  madeFerrando  am 
Prosperi,  who  was  with  him  in  the  Frencl 
the  King  from  his  intention  of  passing  t 
fagnana ;   but  he  kept  in  constant  touch 

Bonifazio  of  Verona,  "  who  would  offend  us,  if  t 
of  that  Count  Bernardo  who  was  executed  here 
Being  so  near  the  borders,  they  could  easily  | 
Ferrara,  without  his  having  any  intimation  < 
Modena,  Minutario  Cronohgico,  The  Count 
Bonifazio  was  beheaded  for  murder  in  1473. 

*  Diario  Ferrarese,  coll.  307,  308.  Cf.  Sanud 
Carh  VIII  in  Italia^  pp.  380,  381,  414. 

310 


THE  DUKE  AND  THE  FRIAR 

and  insfeted  that  Don  Ferrando,  who  wished  to  return  to 
Ferraxa,  should  follow  the  King  wherever  he  went.  At  the 
first  news  of  a  skirmish,  he  impartially  congratulated  the 
victor,  no  matter  to  which  party  Fortune  had  shown 
herself  favourable.* 

An  ineffectual  attempt  had  been  made  in  Ercole's  name 
by  Antonio  Costabili  to  make  peace  between  France  and 
Milan  ;    but  Lodovico  had  cut  short  the  negotiations.    On 
July  I,  Ercole  left  Ferrarawith  four  hundred  horsemen,  and 
went  to  Reggio,  giving  out  that  he  was  going  to  make  a  last 
effort  to  reconcOe  the  Duke  of  MUan  and  the  King.    The 
documents  in  the  Modena  Archives  make  it  clear  that  this 
was  done  under  direct  pressure  from  Lodovico ; »  but  Sanudo 
says  that  Ercole  took  with  him  «  many  carriage-loads  of 
tapestry  and  silver  plate.    It  was  rumoured  that  he  was 
going  to  give  the  passage  to  the  King,  and  for  this  he  brought 
these  trappings,  to  be  able  to  receive  his  Majesty  honour- 
ably."    Before  leaving  Ferrara,  where  he  left  his  brother 

Fprr^^n!!^  *^u  "l"'*'^  of  J«ne  26,  I49S,  to  Alfonso  at  MUan  and 
r^^^fV,  ^^^^'•'nch  camp,  concerning  the  proposed  French 
P^^thmugh  the  Garfagnana  ;  of  June  28,  to  AMo.^.  expressing 

S^n  I ?♦.  "^  ^"^  '^"  '^^  K*°8  how  glad  he  is  that  Aubigny  has 
E^^^T"'',*""  ''^^P  ""^^  "'  P**«"^-     Archivio  di  Modena. 

ExcelW-  ^  ?*•*  '"°**  *°  Lodovico :  "  Both  by  the  letter  of  your 
wH^^r^!  J'^  ^^^  ^""«  °*  Cesser  Jacopo  Trotti  our  orator. 
EO  to  R^^  ■  """^**  ^°^^  ExceUence  desires  that  we  should 
affairs  atP**'  ^^^  **^*  °^  person  in  that  place  wiU  assist  your 
lence  as  •^^™*'  ^°  ^^^^  ^*  answer  that,  to  satisfy  your  Excel- 
ri<rht'wni^  V"  ^^^'^  *°  ^  *"»**  '^^  ^^'  we  will  transfer  ourselves 
not  J^iTr?  '^  *°  ^*8gio,  and,  as  far  as  it  is  in  our  power,  we  shaU 
&at  ri^  -^  "•*  **'**"  *>*  yo*""  Lordship."  To  Trotti,  he  says 
"  to  »v!^S^°  *^  insisted  that  he  should  go  in  person  to  Reggio, 
arm  "  a  *"  '"'**^  ''^^  ^  8oing  on  in  the  Parmesano  and  in  the 
army.      Archivb  di  Modena,  Minutario  Cronologico. 

311 


DUKES   AND    POETS   IN  FEI 

Sigismondo  as  his  vicar,  Ercole  told  the  Vis 
went  to  please  the  Duke  of  Milan  and  that 
a  good  son  of  the  Signoria,  but  not  an 
King  of  France.  But  the  Venetians  decla 
sending  powder  and  victuals  through  the 
French  army,  and  Corio  accuses  him  of  h 
hearted  favourer  of  the  French,  amongst 
his  son  as  hostage,  desiring  that  Charles 
arbiter  of  Italy."  * 

The  King  had  passed  through  Pontren 
entry  into  the  mountains,"  where  "  Friar  Je 
proved  true,  which  was  that  God  would  k 
the  hand,  till  he  were  out  of  danger ;  for  it 
enemies  were  blinded  and  bereft  of  their  w 
defended  not  this  straight."    Beyond  Pont 
five  days  in  a  valley  near  a  small  village,  ' 
almost  famished,  and  his  battle  Ijong  thu 
his  vaward  in  the  midst  of  huge  and  s 
over  the  which  such  great  cannons  and 
then,  as  never  had  passed  before."  *    The 
with    Gian  Jacopo   Trivulzio — ^who,  exile 
had  entered  into  the  Neapolitan  service  ar 
consent  of  King  Ferdinand)  into  that  of 
for  the  first  of  many  times,  was  leading  the 
his  own  countrymen — and  the  vanguard 
three  days  before  the  King's  main  body, 
great  labour  and  difficulty  were  convesdng 
over  the  mountains.    "  Hitherto  in  all  thi 
Comines,  "  we  had  no  war ;  but  now  it 

*  Sanudo,  op,  c»/.,pp.  445,  460;  Malipiero,  A^ 
that  Ercole  hoped  to  receive  the  King  in  R^gic 

*  Comines,  viii.  4. 


THE  DUKE  AND  THE  FRIAR 

Ti^^'T  v'-^"""*^  °^  ^^^  League-or.  more  strictly,  the 
a  h^df  1  ^  ^*^  *  portion  of  the  power  of  MUan  and 
Th*.  itr         ^^  ^^^  troops— barred  their  further  progress 

him  ZZ'^T  '^  ^"'*"*  ^'^^  ^^  ^"P^™«  «>°^^d  '  with 
contin^^f.  "°*'^^'  ^"^^^^^  Gonzaga;  while  the  Milanese 
da  ^Z  c  "^^  captained  by  the  Count  of  Caiazzo,  Francesco 
Rodotfo  a«Tr°'  '^'  "*^"'*  °*  *^^  ^°^  o*  R°b«rto.    Both 

the  preceSn  ^""*  ***  ^^^^^^  *'*'*  ^"^^"^  *^^  ^'^"^^^  ^ 
lieht-arm«^  Syear.    With  the  exception  of  the  Stradiots, 

a  co^  "T^  ^^  ^'-°--  -  tl^«  pay  of  Venice,  and 

finest  and  ml  TT.:  """"  ""  '*^^  ^^^  "  ^^ 
"that  for  a  1  '     "^"^  *^^  ^"*1"^^  *°  Isabella, 

honour  in  ai,y*'Jll^™\^''  been  seen  in  Italy,  fit  to  win 
only  suffice  f^  enterprise.  This  army  alone  will  not 
perpetually."*       ''"'^'  '^^  ^'^'''^'  ^"*  ''^  ^^^'^  ^^^ 

intwcrsm^'^.'^^^V^'''?''^"'*^  *''  "^^"''' 
Stradiots  and  th^^^  f  "^"'"'^  .^""^   ^"*  °«    ^^  *^« 

raised  the  spirits^^  th'lf  ,  -n"  J^'^^'^  ^"  ^'"'''' 

hundr^  hr.L  t  *  *^®  "^^^-  ^^  Ferrarese  force-^ix 
lumdred  horse  M^hich  Ercole  had  been  obUged  to  send-<ame 

mained  in^^"^**  *'  "''"^^  ""^  J^^^  ^  •  ^"t  Alfonso  re- 

wi(l*S°manif '^  ^""^^'  J'^y  5.  1495.  the  King  himself 
. .         _^       .  **°<iy  came  down  the  mountains  and  took  up 

llT  T  ?  ^*'™°^°-  «"  ^^  «^^"»P«d  in  a  vaUey  a 
which"       1®*^«  broad. between  two  Uttle  hills,  through 

hardl  T^lf  i  ^^^^'  ^®  ^^^"^  ^®'^®  °°  *^®  ^^  *°  *^®  "S^*' 
i„«t  i.7  *^®ague  away,  "  so  that  we  were  forced  to  pass 
just  before  them,  the  river  running  between  us ;   for  not- 

^'ttta^uTdi  fI^^^'    ^^^°  *"**  Renier,  i?ranc«co  Gomaga  aUa 

313  X 


DUKES   AND   POETS   IN 

withstanding  that  on  the  back  side  oi 
hand  (underneath  the  which  we  were 
another  way  that  we  might  have  take 
do  so,  lest  we  should  seem  to  fly."  * 
night  a  terrible  rain,  and  such  lightnin 
was  never  since  the  world  began  :  so  tl 
seemed  to  go  together,  or  that  this  f oi 
inconvenience  to  ensue.  For  notwithst 
well  that  the  reverberation  of  these  gre 
foot  of  the  which  we  lay)  made  this  thun 
indeed  it  was ;  and  further,  that  thun< 
natural  in  a  hot  country,  especially  in  s 
they  at  that  present  the  more  dreadful 
because  we  saw  so  many  enemies  encs 
having  none  other  means  to  pass  thr 
battle,  our  force  being  so  small  as  it  wa 
not  more  than  nine  thousand  men  w 
weakened  his  power  on  the  way  by  '. 
various  places  and  sending  troops  to  C 
the  League  amounted  to  some  thirty  t 
Sanudo  declares  that,  the  day  before  i 
from  the  mountains  to  Fomovo,  Ercole 
the  French  camp  to  speak  with  his  Maje 
that  the  Venetians  did  not  mean  to  fi{ 
Corio,  he  sent  letters  to  him  to  a  similj 

*  Comines,  viii.  5. 

*  Op.  cit,,  pp.  485,  517.  It  is  worth  notic 
frequently  accused  Ercole  of  going  about  ii 
harm  or  to  spy  their  proceedings.  Before  tl: 
of  1482,  he  gave  an  emphatic  and  contemptu< 
accusation  that  he  had  gone  disguised  to  exa 
forts  on  the  frontier.  MinuU  Ducali  per  Ron 
January  27,  1482.     Aichivio  di  Modena,  Carie^ 

—^ROfHd* 

314 


THE  DUKE  AND  THE  FRIAR 

mines  gives  no  hint  of  these  somewhat  melodramatic 
proceecJings,  it  seems  fairly  dear  from  a  subsequent 
statement  of  his  that,  previous  to  the  battle,  Ercole  had 
attempted  some  sort  of  mediation  between  the  King  and 
A^ovico ;  1  and,  up  to  the  last  moment,  Charles  was  contem- 
P  atmg  the  possibility  of  a  peaceful  passage.  The  Duke 
waited  at  Reggio  in  agonized  suspense,  while,  all  night  and 
a  ®  *~r°^"g  morning,  the  rain  feU  in  torrents,  the  lightning 
\\^^  °^^'  ^^^  ^^"^  and  the  thunder  reverberated  among 
^stant  hills.  He  had  staked  the  safety  of  his  Duchy 
upon  the  victory  of  the  French,  hU  reUgious  hopes  on  the 
^cation  of  Fra  Girolamo's  prophecy.  Presentiy  there 
th  ^  \^^^^  °*  mounted  men  through  the  storm,  clattering 
dierJS)  ^^^°'^  **"***  ^^^^^'  Tl»ey  were  his  own  sol- 
Str^~  °"  ^^onso's  company— mingled  with  light-armed 
ra  ots,  flying  from  Fomovo,  spreading  the  news  of  a  royal 
^  ory  of  France.  In  his  haste  Ercole  was  for  once  taken 
f  rth  ^^^'  ^®  ^*  towards  the  field  of  battle  to  gain 
hilb  "^  iT*^*'"'^^'  ^^  ^^^  dispatched  a  messenger  to 
hiA^-  ,  Sigismondo,  informing  him  of  the  event  and 
bidding  hinx  teU  the  Visdomino. 

to  h^^  ^*^*"^  ^^**  °*  ^^  '****^«  °*  Fomovo  are  too  well  known 
^  De  repeated  here.»    Assailed  in  the  van  by  the  Count  of 

aiazzo   in  the  rear  by  the  Marquis  of  Mantua'  with  the 
ot  the  Italian  chivalry,  the  King  had  shaken  ofE  their 

*  Comines.  when  ^u-^ 
of  Orleans  of  "  di       ^  ^^^  ^®  *°  ^^^'  ^^^  *^  inform  the  Duke 
King  and  the  DnV^^^  treaties  that  were  entertained  between  the 
t>y  the  Dulce  of  ^       ^^'  ^  ^nc  of  the  which  myself  negotiated 
letter  to  Lodovico  0?^^^*''  "^^"^  "    C^^'  ^""^  ^^  7).    Cf.  Eicole's 

»  They  are  sun^liJ*  ^/'  "l^^*®^  ^*»^*- 
Comines  (vUi  6^?  fr    ^  related  from  the  French  point  of  view  by 
For  the  whoic  lit«^°^  ^^  Italian  standpoint  by  Corioand  Sanudo. 
Francesco  GonzagT^rt  °*    ^^  subject,  see    Luzio   and  Renier, 
6     »««  oattagiia  di  Fomovo. 

315 


DUKES   AND    POETS    IN   I 

attack,  and  hurled  them  back,  broken 
"  Undoubtedly,"  says  Comines,  "  it  is  i 
to  meet  rougUier  than  we  met."  The  Sti 
infantry  had  made  the  merest  pretence 
onslaught,  but  had  rushed  ^'  Uke  flying 
royal  baggage.  The  whole  thing  had  last 
the  utmost  confusion,  in  thunder  and  ligl 
of  rain.  Charles  himself,  left  alone  in 
narrowly  escaped  falling  into  the  han< 
cavalry.  About  three  thousand  Italiai 
including  the  second  in  command,  Rodol 
was  a  virtuous  and  a  wise  gentleman,  ; 
and  bare  arms  against  us  with  an  evil  w 
took  no  prisoners,  their  camp-followers  bi 
men-at-arms  with  the  hatchets  they  i 
According  to  Comines,  the  French  hs 
hundred  men,  but  Corio  estimates  the  i 
thousand.  The  Bastard  of  Bourbon  had 
by  the  Marquis  of  Mantua,  who  had  sh^ 
as  a  general,  but  very  great  personal  c 
the  fight.  The  royal  baggage  and  trea 
spoils  from  Naples,  had  fallen  into  the  t 
and  Italians. 

A  portion  of  the  Venetian  forces  had 
in  their  camp  in  reserve,  the  Prowe 
in  Corio's  phrase,  "  that  in  this  battle  wi 
fate  not  only  of  Italy  but,  as  it  were,  c 
because,  if  Charles  were  defeated,  he  lost 
if  the  Latins  lost,  Italy  was  exposed  tc 

^  Comines,  he.    oit.     Rodolfo's    death   is 
sonorous  lines  by  Ariosto,  in  the  poem  Ad  j 

i.   2). 

316 


THE  DUKE  AND  THE  FRIAR 

Both  sides  claimed  the  victory.    "  God  had  performed  that 
which  Friar  Jerome  promised,"  writes  Comines,  "  to  wit, 
that  the  honour  of  the  field  should  be  ours  ;  for  considering 
our  small  experience  and  evil  government,  we  were  imworthy 
of  this  good  success  that  God  gave  us,  because  we  could  not 
then  tell  how  to  use  it."    The  Marquis  of  Mantua  wrote  to 
his  sister  that  he  had  deUvered  Italy,  **  brought  forth  the 
hberation  and  liberty  of  Italy,"  and  when  we  stand  in  the 
Louvre  before  that  most  superb  of  votive  pictures  which 
he  bade  Mantegna  paint  for  him,  La  Madonna  deUa  Vit- 
toria,  the  man's  self-deception  seems  for  the  nonce  almost 
sublime.    The  battle,  the  bloodiest  in  Italy  since  two  cen- 
turies, had  been  fought  on  the  morning  of  Monday,  July  6, 
1495. 

It  must  be  said  that  Charles'  behaviour  was  not  that  of  a 
victor,  but  gave  considerable  colour  to  the  Mantuan  vaunt. 
The  next  morning,  Comines  crossed    the   river   and  con- 
ferred with  the  Marquis,  the  Count  of  Caiazzo  and  the  two 
Proweditori,  about  an  armistice.    But  by  midnight  the  King 
had  decided  to  retreat  with  all  speed.  Before  dawn  the  French 
'*  turned  our  backs  to  our  enemies,  seeking  wholly  our  own 
safety,"  closely  followed  by  Caiazzo's  light  horsemen  who 
harassed  their  rear,  and  at  a  more  respectful  distance  by  the 
rest  of  the  army— which  turned  off  to  join   the   Milanese 
force  that  (reinforced  with  Germans  and  Flemings  from 
Maximilian)  kept  Orleans  besieged  m  Novara.    Charies  gol: 
safe  to  Asti  with  all  his  artillery,  while  the  boastful  dispatches 
that  the  captains  of  the  Italian  army  sent  to  Lodovico 
roused  Ercole's  warmest  indignation  :— 

"  We  tell  you,"  he  wrote  to  Jacopo  Trotti  from  Reggio, 
"  that  verily  we  are  much  astonished  that  that  most  illus- 
trious Lord  does  not  perceive  that  the  truth  is  very  seldom 

317 


DUKES   AND   POETS    IN 

told  him,  and  that  many  hes  and  things 
to  him  by  the  Count  of  Caiazzo  and  t 
you  have  seen,  the  Count  of  Caiazzo  writ 
pursuing  the  King  of  France,  and  repres 
cally  taken,  and,  nevertheless,  he  does  nc 
do  we  bdieve  that  he  has  any  wish  to  caj 
he  can  capture  him,  seeing  that  his  Maj 
be  in  Asti  and  wherever  he  wishes.  I 
and  the  others  write  and  behave  in  that  v 
of  doing  something,  and  they  make  that 
round,  and  yet  the  things  are  of  such  a  h 
that  his  Excellence  ought  to  perceive  it  h 
not  refrain  from  having  these  few  word: 
It  was  muttered  in  Ferrara  that  Alfoi 
Fomovo  had  been  purposely  put  into 
unsupported,  that  French  might  destro; 
of  his  men-at-arms,  together  with  the  coi 
da  Corr^;gio,  had  been  killed,  and  the  re 
fled  from  the  field,  spreading  the  repon 
defeat.  The  Visdomino  wrote  furiously  f 
government,  complaining  of  the  way  in 
annoimced  the  event  and  that  the  Ferrai 
for  France  in  the  streets,  showing  "  grea 
the  reported  rout,  and  insulting  his  messe 
itself  there  was  great  exultation  at  the  n& 
piazzas  and  canals  blazed  with  festive  li 
of  artillery  thimdered  out  the  triimiph  of 
heard  in  Ferrara,"  writes  the  Diarist  b 
Venice  the  Venetians  had  fired  salvos  for  1 
they  have  had,  to  make  their  subjects  ] 

I   *  Minute  Ducali  of  July  14, 1495.    Archivio  di 
Cronohgico.     Jacopo  Trotti  died  in  the  foUowini 

318 


THE  DUKE  AND  THE  FRIAR 

have  been  victorious,  and  not  to  forgo  their  custom;  which 
al^va3^  was,  is,  and  will  be,  when  they  have  lost  some- 
^^hing  of  theirs  or  had  bad  tidings,  to  have  guns  fired, 
hells  rung,  and  to  keep  holiday."  But  there  were  cries  of 
**  To  Ferrara!  To  Ferrara! "  and  on  the  Rialto  the  boys 
s^^ig  an  improvised  song : — 

Marchexe  di  Ferrara,  di  la  caxa  di  Maganza, 

Tu  perderi  '1  stado,  al  dispetto  dil  Re  di  FVanza.^ 

The  artisans  and  shopkeepers  off ered  to  pay  double  taxes, 
if  the  Republic  would  assail  Ferrara  ;  "  nevertheless,  the 
Signoria  would  not  at  this  time  make  any  demonstration 
^e^Mist  that  Duke,  although  while  he  was  in  Reggio  he  had 
sent  much  victual  into  the  camp  of  the  King  of  France,  and 
haxrels  of  powder  for  his  artillery,  but  for  which  the  King 
would  not  have  been  able  to  use  it."  * 

Ercole  now  realized  his  critical  position,  and,  somewhat 

tardily,  instructed  his  ambassador  in  Venice,  Aldobrandino 

Guidone,  to  congratulate  the  Signoria  on  the  victory  of 

e  1-eagxie.    Aldobrandino  was  refused  audience  on  July 

13  ;  but  oix  the  next  ^day  the  Doge  and  Collegio  received 

™m.    When  he  began  to  speak  of  his  master's  joy  in  the 

VIC  ory  of  tJie  army  of  the  League,  the  Doge  stopped  him  : 

^^  ^rrxiy  of  the  League  ?    We  say  that  it  is  ours,  and 

we  have    j>^d  for  it,  and  not  the  League."    Aldobrandino 

then  said  -that  there  were  reports  in  Venice  that  his  master 

not    done  his  duty  at  this  crisis ;  these  reports  were 

4v^  c^^^^  ^^  Ferrara,  of  the  House  of  Maganra,  thou  shalt  lose 

a  of  A  ^^  ^^^®  ^  ^^®  ^^«  ^  France." 

banuao,  op,  cit,,  p.  485  ;  Malipiero,  p.  355  ;   Diario  Ferraress, 

coll.  ^10»    311.     It  J3  q^jitg  evident    from    Comines    that    these 

Nene^iB.  accusations  were  false.    But  Malipiero  (p.   363)  says: 

"  Some  carts  of  the  Duke  of  Ferrara  have  been  taken,  which  were 

going  to  the  French  army  with  victuals  and  powder." 

319 


DUKES   AND   POETS    IN    F 

false,  and  Ercole  was  ready  to  stand  the 
the  Doge  had  the  letters  of  the  Visdoi 
expressed  his  great  dissatisfaction  with  t! 
missed  the  orator.*  "  And  in  Ferrara  the 
Duke  Ercole,  there  was  made  a  public  p 
no  one  should  dare  to  speak  against  the  Ve 
had  complained  to  the  Duke  that  it  seein< 
looked  upon  badly  by  the  Ferrarese — as  1 
pride  and  haughtiness."  *  Nevertheless,  tl 
oured  for  war ;  a  crowd  of  three  hundrec 
night  to  Aldobrandino's  house,  and  ma 
uproar  under  his  windows. 

The  Pope  had  by  now  excommimicated  t 
King.     A  papal  envoy  was   at   Florenc 
insistence  with  the  Signoria,  telUng  them 
resolved  to  join  the  League,  the  whole  of 
against  them  with  good  cause,  seeing  that  I 
they  were  working  the  ruin  of  Italy.     I 
professed  itself  unable  to  break  with  the 
sadpr,"  said  this  wily  prelate  to  Manfredo 
well  to  induce  the  Excellence  of  your  Lc 
declare  himself  openly  on  the  side,  of  the 
Powers  of  Italy  should  complain  that  1 
Frenchman  than  ItaHan.    Far  better  for  h 
in  the  sight  of  all  Italy,  than  his  wishing  ti 
as  he  has  done  up  to  now  ;  for  he  that  is 
against   me^^     To  this   scarcely   veiled 
Pope,  which  was  made  in  the  presence 
ambassador,   Manfredo    answered  that   1 
enough  to  know  his  own  business,  and  tha 

*  Sanudo,  op,  cit,,  p.  486  ;  Malipiero,  p 

*  Diario  Ferrarese,  col.  311. 

320 


iii 


THE  DUKE  AND  THE  FRIAR 


serve  the  cause  of  the  Duke  of  Milan  and  the  other  potentates 
of  Italy,  by  thus  remaining  neutral,  than  he  could  do  if  he 
declared  himself  entirely  on  the  side  of  the  League.^ 

Ercole  was  exceedingly  impatient  to  see  the  book  that 
Savonarola  had  promised  him,  the  Compendium  RevdaUonum, 
from  which  he  anticipated  much  spiritual  guidance  in  this 
present  crisis.    He  bade  Manfredo  go  to  the  Friar  and  im- 
plore him  to  let  him  have  it ;  if  it  was  not  yet  printed,  he 
wanted  to  have  a  copy  taken  of  the  manuscript  and  sent  to 
him  at  once.    "  If  necessary,  we  will  keep  it  secret  as  long 
as  he  shall  wish,  and  we  will  not  show  it  nor  make  it  known 
in  any  way."    Savonarola  told  Manfredo  that  the  book 
would  be  ready  next  week,  and  that  he  had  ordered  a  copy 
to  be  printed  on  special  paper  for  the  Duke ;    if  he  had 
known  how  eager  the  latter  was,  he  would  have  had  it 
transcribed  by  hand.    And,  sure  enough,  next  week  the 
long-expected  book  arrived  at  Ferrara,  in  two  copies — one 
on  special  paper  for  the  Duke,  the  other  for  his  physician, 
Lodovico  de'  Carri.   Manfredo,  in  forwarding  them,  explained 
that,  seeing  that  the  Duke's  copy  was  something  special,  he 
had  tried  to  pay  for  the  expense  of  the  paper  ;  but  the  Friar 
would  not  hear  of  it.    Ercole  eagerly  and  instantly  read  the 
little  book  through,  and  wrote  an  enthusiastic  letter    of 
thanks  to  the  author.    He  did  not,  however,  commit  him- 
self in  any  way  to  the  theories  expressed  in  the  work,  but 
again  earnestly  implored  Savonarola  to  pray  to  God  for  him 
and  for  Ferrara,  "  that  our  affairs  and  those  of  our  native 
land  may  pass  well,  and  be  under  the  protection  of  the 
Divine  Majesty."  ■ 

*  Dispatch  from  Florence  of  July  26,  1495.     CappeUi,  op.  dt., 
PP- 360,361. 

■  Letters  of  August  10  and  15,  1495,  from  Ercole  to  Manfredo 

321 


f  ."" 


DUKES   AND   POETS    IN    F 

The  Duke  of  Orleans  was  now  hard  presi 
men  reduced  to  the  utmost  extreniities 
response  to  a  pressing  invitation  from  the  ] 
forward  again  as  peacemaker  and  mediat 
September,  passing  to  and  fro  between  M 
vico  kept  with  his  power,  and  Vercelli,  whe 
lay.  Pandolfo  Collenuccio,  whose  genius 
would  put  the  most  enterprising  of  modem 
blush,  had  been  holding  high  talk  wit 
Florence.  On  his  return  to  Ferrara,  he  wr 
of  the  expectations  which  all  Italy  had  in 
influence  vnth  the  King  of  France,  but  un 
in  silence  the  fact  that  the  Friar  was  verj 
the  reality  of  this  peace : — 

"  When  I  took  leave  of  his  Paternity,  I 
conclusion  I  should  bear  away  with  me  a 
He  said  to  me :  '  Messer  Pandolfo,  I  shall 
the  words  of  Ezekid  the  Prophet :  And  ye 
I  am  the  Lord  God.  Because  they  have  dec 
saying :  Peace,  peace  ;  and  there  is  no  peace  ; 
a  wally  and  others  daubed  it  with  utUempered  t 
them  that  daub  without  tempering^  that  it  shaU 
the  reply  that  he  gave  me,  which  I  have  af 
Ezekiel,  and  it  is  in  the  thirteenth  chapter, 
to  tell  this  to  your  Lordship,  because  it  coi 
that  you,  with  your  goodness  and  with 

(ViUari,  Savonarola,  i.  appendix,  doc.  xxxvi.  i,  2 
patches  of  August  13  and  20  ;  letters  dated  Comi 
from  Ercole  to  Manfredo  and  to  Savonarola  (Cappe 
363).  The  book  in  question  was  the  Italian  vei 
pendium  of  Revelations.  In  October,  Savonarola 
Duke  the  Latin  version  with  a  short  letter  (Vili 
XXX.  I),  which  Ercole  gratefully  acknowledged  Qt 
24,  Cappelli,  op.  cit.,  p.  366). 

322 


THE  DUKE  AND  THE  FRIAR 

your  heart  and  devotion  to  God,  will  be  the  cause  of 
"tliis  decree  being  changed,  as  in  His  wisdom  God  did  in 
Isaiah  and  Jonah.  However,  the  hearts  of  kings  are  in  the 
Hand  of  God:'  ^ 

Notwithstanding  Savonarola's  forebodings,  the  peace  was 
concluded  in  October  at  Vercelli,  between  Charles  and 
Lodovico.  Novara  was  surrendered,  Milan  paying  an 
indemnity  to  the  Duke  of  Orleans  ;  the  French  ships  taken 
at  Genoa  were  to  be  restored,  and  Lodovico  was  to  aid 
Charles  against  Naples,  if  the  latter  returned  in  person  to  the 
enterprise  (Ferdinand  had  re-entered  his  capital  in  the  very 
month  of  the  battle  of  Fomovo) ;  the  castelletto  of  Genoa 
(\vhich  city,  it  will  be  remembered,  the  French  dajmed  as  a 
fief),  as  a  pledge  of  Lodovico's  fidelity,  was  to  be  put  into 
Ercole's  hands  as  neutral  for  two  years.  It  was  an  insincere 
peace  on  both  sides,  and  the  attitude  of  the  Venetians,  who 
nad  two  months  given  them  in  which  to  enter  into  it,  but 
to  whom  Ferdinand  had  consigned  six  coast  towns  in  Apulia, 
^^as  questionable.  But  Charles  was  only  anxious  to  return 
o  liraace,  and  left  his  garrisons  in  Apulia  and  the  Abruzzi 
to  their  f  ^te. 

^^  isrcole,     through  Manfredo,  had  promptly  informed  the 
^^^  "the  War"  at  Florence  of  the  arrangement  about 
Vjenoa.      Xn  November,  he  took  possession  of  the  casteUetto 
g^rlsoned  it  with  men  and  artillery — though  he  experi- 
enced tfci^  utmost  difl&culty  in  getting  the  necessary  funds, 
wmclitxe  understood  had  been  promised,  from  either  of  the 
high  coxitracting  parties."    Then  he  returned  to  Ferrara*  his 

^  ttspatch  of  October  12,  1495.   Cappdli,  op.  cit.,  p.  406. 
^  IfcWcrs  of  October  27  and  December  10,  1495,  dated  Milan  and 
"Fearrara   respectively,    to    Don   Ferrando.     Arcbivio    di    Modena, 
CoirUUio  dn  Principi,     After  the  battle  of  Fomovo,  Charles  had 

323 


w 


DUKES   AND   POETS    IN    F] 

faithful  subjects  noting  with  approval  tl 
good  health  and  decidedly  well  pleased 
tnotto  di  bona  voglia  e  grasso^  as  the  Diaris 
Savonarola  had  already  expressed  to  M< 
tion  of  appealing  to  the  Duke  to  take  up 
event  of  the  Pope  forbidding  him  to  pr 
1496  found  Ercole  completely  imder  his 
attempting  to  transform  Ferrara  into  an  id< 
ance  with  the  Friar's  precepts.  He  bej 
proclaiming  a  black  fast  of  two  days  throi 
in  consequence  of  an  alleged  apparition  of  1 
in  Rome,  to  avert  the  fearful  scourges  o 
that  were  said  to  be  about  to  fall  upon  Ital 
the  example  by  fasting  rigidly  with  all  1 
days  later,  the  Friar  sent  the  Duke  what 
been  a  printed  first  draft  of  his  book 
ChrisUanae  Vitae,  with  a  letter  full  of  h< 
soon  see  my  earthly  country,  by  virtue  o 
bring  forth  some  spiritual  fruit."  He  beg 
little  book  secret  for  the  present,  or  at 
others  read  it  mih  him  in  his  own  room 
revise  it.  In  view  of  the  terrible  trib 
rapidly  approaching,  let  his  Excellence  b 
divine  things ;  especially  let  him  purge  ] 
men,  and  put  the  offices  into  the  hands  o 
away  all  power  from  the  evil  and  infamou 
greatly  provoke  the  anger  of  God."  * 

made  Ferrando  Duke  of  Amalfi  ;    but    Mont] 

disregarding  the  young  Ferrarese  prince,  conf  e 

a  Ftench  noble. 
^  Dispatch  of  October  26,  1495.    Cappelli,  op 
■  Letter  of  January  10,  1496.    Villari,  op,  cit.^ 

The  first  published  edition  of  the  De  Simplicitc 

324 


• 


M 


THE  DUKE  AND  THE  FRIAR 

At  Easter,  Ercole  made  a  vigorous  effort  to  begin  this 
reformation  of  Ferrara,  according  to  Savonarola's  exhorta- 
tions,   A  strongly- worded  edict  was  published  from  the 
balcony  of  the  Palazzo  della  Ragione  against  blasphemy, 
unlawful  gaming,  sodomy,  married  men  keeping  concubines 
in  public  or  private,  letting  houses  to  harlots  or  their  pan- 
ders ;  and  steps  were  taken  to  see  that  it  was  carried  out. 
All  shops  were  to  be  shut  on  feast-days,  and  nothing  was  to 
be  sold  on  these  days  in  the  piazza,  save  what  was  really  neces- 
sary.   Unfortunately,  the  Duke  went  further,  and  abandoned 
his  former  enlightened  policy  towards  the  Jews.    All  the 
"  Hebrews  and  Marrani  "  living  in  Ferrara  and  the  Ferrarese 
territory  were  to  be  compelled  to  wear  the  yellow  badge  of 
shame  sewn  on  to  the  front  of  their  dresses,  and  on  Low 
Sunday  aU  the  Jews  in  Ferrara  were  obliged  to  attend  a 
sermon  in  the  Duomo,  at  which  Ercole  himself  and  Anna 
were  present.* 

Hearing  of  all  these  measures  from  Ercole's  Dominican 
confessor,  Fra  Tommaso,  Savonarola  expressed  the  utmost 
satisfaction ;  but  he  exhorted  the  Duke  not  to  rest  there. 
**  Let  your  Lordship  especially  set  diligent  watch,  super^ 
vision  and  restraint  upon  your  ministers  and  officials, 
which  matters  more  than  all  the  rest.  These  are  often 
wont  to  derogate  the  clemency,  goodness  and  reputa^ 
tion  of  the  Sovereign  by  perv^er^e  suggestions,  and  wicked 

and    impious   exactions,    and    by    fraudulent   adulation  ; 

wherefore  such  men  should  be  abhorred  as  enemies  of  your 

is  dated  August  28,  1495  j  an  Italian  version,  by  Girolamo  Bcnivieni, 
followed  in  October. 

Diario  Ferrarese,  coll.  322,  3^3^  The  worthy  preacher's  elo- 
quence, however,  was  waited  :  "  On  that  day  one  Hebrew  was 
baptized,  after  the  sermon  in  the  Vescovado  ;  but  he  was  not  one  of 
those  who  had  been  to  hear  the  scnnon/* 


^^^^H 

^mv 


DUKES   AND    POETS    IN    F 

Excellence."  *  Unfortunately,  Ercole  cor 
pably  lax  on  this  point,  until  a  severe  lessc 
Gregorio  Zampante  of  Lucca,  his  capt£ 
Ferrara,  was  universally  and  justly  hate 
unlimited  confidence  that  the  Duke  had  i 
pante  "  cared  not  for  any  man  in  the  w 
the  sons  and  brothers  of  his  ducal  Lords 
all  the  subjects  of  the  Lord  tremble,"  w 
and  cruel  tortures  ;  he  Uved  luxuriously,  a 
sum  of  money  from  his  extortions.  Ere 
him  and  would  hear  nothing  against  him, 
hated  this  "  enemy  of  God  and  man  " 
hatred  that  he  dared  not  cross  the  road  o 
the  Duke,  vdthout  an  escort  of  soldier 
July  i8  of  this  year,  while  Ercole  was  at 
to  arbitrate  between  the  Pio  who  were, 
other's  throats,  two  medical  students  an< 
entered  Zampante's  house  after  diimer  at 
and  disembowelled  him  with  a  dagger, 
they  rode  furiously  through  the  quiet  s 
claiming  what  they  had  done,  and  escape 
frontier,  all  the  people  helping  them  on 
Duke,  on  his  return,  made  no  attempt  t 
but  took  the  lesson  to  heart.  A  few  mon 
an  example  of  Count  Niccold  Ariost 
guilty  of  cruelty  and  oppression  in  his 
commissary  at  Lugo ;  he  was  fined  fiv< 
ducats,  deprived  of  his  post,  and  declared 
again  holding  ofiice  in  the  Duchy.* 

*  Letter  of  April  27,  1496.     Villari,  op,  cit,, 
2  Diario  Ferrarese,  coll.  330-333.     Cf.  chapte 

*  Ibid.,  coll.  337,  338. 

326 


THE  DUKE  AND  THE  FRIAR 

In  the  meanwhile,  Lodovico  Sforza  was  plying  the  Friar 
with  honeyed  words,  while  his  agents  were  intercepting  his 
letters  and  endeavoiuing  to  compromise  him  with  the  Pope 
and  the  King  of  France.  He  produced  faked  letters, 
either  written  in  Savonarola's  name  by  his  foes  in  Florence 
or  composed  for  the  occasion  by  his  own  agents,  and 
sent  copies  to  Ercole,  who  promptly  placed  them  in  Savon- 
arola's hands,  through  Manfredo,  and  received  the  Friar's 
assurance  that  they  were  forgeries.  Manfredo  still  pressed 
the  latter  for  advice  to  Ercole,  in  the  growing  rumours  of  a 
new  French  invasion,  to  which  the  Friar  could  only  answer 
that  he  would  not  fail  to  pray  continually  to  God  that  He 
would  illumine  the  Duke  as  to  the  best  course  for  hun  to 
pursue.* 

The  situation,  indeed,  was  growing  more  difficult  every- 
day. Throughout  1496,  there  were  perpetual  nmiours  of  a 
French  expedition  to  support  the  clauns  of  the  Duke  of 
Orleans  upon  Milan  and  to  reconquer  the  Kingdom  of 
Naples,  where  the  House  of  Aragon  was  rapidly  winning 
back  all  that  it  had  lost.  Comines  tells  us  that  the  French 
were  assured  of  the  Duke  of  Ferrara's  friendship  and  aid.=» 
Trivulzio  was  actually  at  Asti  in  May,  and  a  French  ambas- 
sador,  who    came  to  Ferrara  at  the  end  of  the  month. 

Dispatch  of  April  28,  1496.  CappeUi,  op.  cit,,  pp.  369,  370. 
Communications  between  Ercole  and  Savonarola  continued  unin- 
terruptedly throughout  this  year.  Besides  constant  advice,  the 
f  ^  ^^^  *^®  ^"^®  *  rosary.  "  We  have  received,"  writes  Ercole 
to  Manfredo,  "  the  rosary  which  you  have  sent  us  in  the  name  of  our 
venerable  Fra  Girolamo,  the  which  has  been  as  acceptable  to  us  as 
any  other  thing  that  we  could  have  received,  and  therefore  we  woul<i 
nave  you  take  an  occasion  greatly  to  thank  him  for  it  in  our  name.** 
ArcWvio  di  Modena.  Minutario  Cronohgico  (May  17,  1496). 

MSmotres,  viii.  15.  He  says  that  Ercole  had  promised  to  aid 
them  with  five  hundred  men-at-arms  and  two  thousand  foot-soldiers. 

327 


DUKES  AND  POETS  IN  FI 

received  a  popular  ovation.  The  Venetian! 
the  Ferrarese  frontier,  alike  on  the  Polesir 
though  Ercole  assured  them  that  he  was 
boundaries  should  extend  to  the  piazza  oi 

The  hesitancy  of  the  Duke  of  Orlean 
Dauphin  having  died  at  the  beginning  oi 
himself  the  heir  to  the  French  throne,  ' 
delayed  the  invasion.  But  the  Frencl 
their  alliance  with  the  Swiss  had  ala: 
Lodovico  Sforza  and  the  Pope,  supf 
induced  the  King  of  the  Romans  to  coi 
plea  of  taking  the  imperial  crown— in  r 
than  the  condottiere  of  the  League  for 
In  July,  Lodovico  and  Beatrice  met  th 
in  the  T3rrol,  whither  most  of  the  Italic 
bassadors.  Some  of  the  imperial  mii 
the  presence  of  the  Ferrarese  envoy, 
had  not  joined  the  League ;  and  Maxin 
when  he  arrived  in  Italy,  he  would  e 
Ferrara  to  come  to  him  in  person,  toswei 
reinvested  with  the  imperial  fiefs  of  M 
The  envoy  protested  his  master's  dev< 
that  no  renewal  of  the  investiture  was 

Maximilian  arrived  in  Italy  in  Au§ 
greeted  by  the  Cardinal  Carvajal  in  the  nj 
der.  Venice  and  Milan  were  growing  c 
each  other's  designs  concerning  Pisa,  wl 
to  keep  firm  in  his  alliance  with  Fran< 

*  Diario  Ferrarese,  col.  326. 

3  Dispatch  of    Dandolo  and  Foscari,  July 
Senato  Veneto  di  Francesco  Foscari  e  di  altri  ora 
MassimUiano,  pp.  784,  785. 

328 


THE  DUKE  AND  THE  FRIAR 

after  excuse  for  not  coming  to  see  the  Emperor  at  Vigevano 
in  the  Milanese.     "  He  cannot  come,"  said  Antonio  Cos- 
tabili,  who  had  succeeded  Trotti  as  Ferrarese  ambassador 
at  Milan,  "  because  he  is  old  and  absorbed  in  his  devotions  ; 
but  he  will  send  Don  Alfonso,  his  son."    The  Duke  feared 
lest    he    should     be    bidden  surrender   the  castelletto  of 
Genoa    and  break   faith   with   France.     Maximilian   was 
indignant  at  the  suggestion  that  Ercole  was  bound  to  write 
to  the  King  of  France  for  direction,  and  bade  the  ambas- 
sador order  him    absolutely  to  come  to  him.    The  Moro 
sent  Antonio  Costabili  to  Ferrara  to  urge  him  to  obey,  but 
Ercole  for  once  Mras  unshaken.    When  Maximilian  entered 
Genoa  on  September  27,  the  Ferrarese  garrison  in  the  cas- 
telletto fired  a  few  salvos  in  salute — ^but  only  under  com- 
pulsion from  the  governor  of  the  town.*    The  story  of 
Maximilian's  abortive  siege  of  Leghorn,  the  timely  succour 
of  the  French  fleet,  and  the  would-be  Caesar's  retreat  to  the 
Tyrol  in  December,  need  not  be  retold  here. 

Ercole's  bearing  throughout  this  episode  had  estranged 
Milan,  and  increased  the  suspicion  of  the  League  against 
him.  Lodovico's  agents  professed  to  have  intercepted 
incriminating  dispatches  from  the  Ferrarese  ambassador 
in  France,*  and  it  was  universally  believed  that  Savonarola 
and  Ercole  were  working  hand  in  hand  to  bring  the  King 
back  to  Italy.  Ercole,  however,  bade  Manfredo  warn  the 
Friar  in  his  name  to  be  on  his  guard  against  circumvention 
and  treachery,  since  "  from  afar  they  cast  the  nets  to  bring 
the  fish  to  shore." '    To  add  to  his  perplexities,  the  Pope 

1  Foscari's  dispatches  of  September  9,  13,  14,  27.  Ibid.f  pp.  856, 
S77,  8S2,  896. 

»  Foscari's  dispatch  of  September  11.     Ibid.^  p.  870. 
3  Letter  of  November  17,  1496.     Cappelli,  op,  cit.,  p.  373-     '^^ 
warning  i»»  ^r  once,  against  the  French, 

329  Y 


1J 


DUKES  AND  POETS   1 

had  attempted  to  appoint  his  owi 
the  Cardinal  of  Monreale,  to  the  I 
when  the  Duke,  who  desired  this, 
dominions,  for  his  son  Ippolito, 
possession,  Ferrara  was  put  und 
death  of  the  Duchess  Beatrice,  on 
tically  severed  all  the  ties  that  hot 
and,  when  Alfonso's  young  wife  Ar 
grave  on  November  30,  there  was 
two  Dukes  united. 

Very  early  in  the  morning  on  Mc 
sought  out  Savonarola  in  the  name 
him  of  the  affection  and  love  that  tk 
him,  and  the  faith  he  had  in  the  th 
prophesied.  He  exhorted  him  to  p 
and  implored  him  to  give  him  som 
what  he  believed  was  going  to  happei 
he  should  do  at  this  crisis.  Savona 
thanked  the  Duke  much  for  the  love 
he  had  no  need  to  remind  him  perpe 
for  him,  as  he  did  so  continually,  and 
as  he  knew  that  he  was  praying  for  a 

^  Although  it  was  not  until  September, 
interdicted,  this  trouble  had  begun  in  149^ 
December  12)  to  the  Cardinal  Borgia  himi 
son  who  was  a  Cardinal,  verily  we  could 
Bishopric  should  be  bestowed  upon  another 
Lordship,  both  because  of  your  own  virtue 
as  also  in  respect  of  the  Holiness  of  our  U 
and  son  we  are.  But  since  we  have  the  m< 
Este  our  son,  who  has  need  of  benefices,  an< 
the  first  benefice  and  the  most  importani 
dominion,  it  seems  to  us  fitting  and  perfec 
retain  that  benefice  for  our  son  rather  tl 
Archivio  di  Modena,  Minuiario  Cronologico. 

330 


THE  DUKE  AND  THE  FRIAR 
who  Uved  like  a  Christian  and  a  Catholic.    As  to  Manfredo's 

awlr"^*'  '''  ^°"^^  P'^y  *°  ^  f«^  inspiration  to  be 
awe  to  give  Ercole  the  light  he  needed.  On  the  following 
evemng  the  Friar  suddenly  sent  for  Manfredo.  and  gave 
^  a  shp  of  paper,  written  in  his  own  hand,  to  convey  with 
he  utmost  security  to  Ercole.  on  the  understanding  that 

wV  ^T  ''°'^**  ^^^  "*^*  ^^«t  ^^^  inspiration  of  his. 
Which  he  revealed  to  him  «  under  the  seal  of  confession." 
^n  the  slip  of  paper  which  Manfredo  forwaided  to  Ercole. 
after  solemnly  pledging  both  the  Duke  and  himself  to  abso- 
lute  secrecy,  were  these  words  .— 

"  The  Friend  is  not  rejected,  but  he  is  deceived  by  his 
own ;  If  he  choose,  he  wiU  still  do  great  things  and  get  rid 
ot  every  one ;  and,  therefore,  it  is  a  dangerous  thing  to  leave 
ton  I  do  not  think.  however,-and  this  I  say  of  myself— 
that  It  would  be  bad  to  use  some  astuteness  with  our  ene- 
mies.morder  not  to  enter  into  any  danger,  until  God  opens 
his  ey«.  We  shall  aid  the  affair  with  our  prayers.  On 
the  other  hand,  it  would  be  good  to  aid  it  with  prudence 
by  some  trusty  person  who  could  speak  to  him  securely 
and  open  his  eyes.  It  should  be  a  religious  and  wii 
person,  and  one  who  beUeved  in  these  things.  This  must 
not  be  communicated  to  any  one.  because  I  have  not  yet 

merit^l  this  secret  from  the  Lord,  in  Whomaloneyou  must 
»»  man,  and  maketh  flesh  his  arm." ' 

in  Florence,  and  ^  CL^^^-    Ercole's  bastard,  Don  Giulio.  was 

Duomo.    SavonardTw^f.P'?**'"**  *^  ^"^'^  ^*™*>°  *°   **ie 
•»  waa  also  in  correspondence  with  the  younger 

331 


DUKES  AND  POETS 

The  mysterious  friend,  the  cLrwii 
and  the  hint — ^which  goes  periloi 
— ^is  obviously  that  Ercole  stioiiJd 
until  he  comes,  temporize  ivith 
urged  him  to  adopt  the  suggestion, 
but  wise  person  to  urge  up  **  tl 
adequacy  of  such  a  message,  prof 
a  chill  to  the  Duke's  heart,  and  i 
faith  in  the  prophet  wavered^  In 
the  Duomo  at  Florence,  followed  by 
excommunication  against  Savonarol 
at  Milan  Antonio  CostabiU  vigorous 
tine  ambassador  in  defending  the 
cause  to  the  face  of  Lodovico  bin 
conceal  his  anxiety  and  perplexity, 
his  cirde,  probably  the  Fra  Tommj 
informed  Savonarola  that  the  Duke 
at  the  tardiness  of  the  fulfilment  o 
Friar  at  once  wrote  an  impassioned 
to  persevere  in  the  faith.  God  is  n 
like  man,  but  sometimes  proceeds  sj 
of  the  dect  and  to  make  more  mani 
the  reprobate.  "  Similarly  the  Jews  < 
prophets,  because  it  seemed  to  them 

Ercole  d'  Este  (the  Duke's  nephew)  and 
CI.  Mansi's  Appendix  to  Baluze,  Miscsl 
Angela  is  wrongly  styled  "  Duchess  of  Fenrai 
Paolo  Somend,  the  Milanese  orator  at  Fl( 
Maxx^h  5,  it  is  stated  that  this  Eicole  di  Sigisi 
on  the  previous  day  to  Florence,  disguised,  t 
ViUari,  op.  cit,  ii.  p.  6,  note  3.  Father  Lw 
appears  to  have  confused  the  uncle  and  the 
f  1  Dispatch  of  Antonio  CostabiU  to  Ei 
Villari,^o^.  cii,^  iL  document  vi. 


THE  DUKE  AND  THE  FRIAR 

foretold  were  long  in  coming,  and  so  at  last  they  were  de- 
ceived every  time,  mitil  their  final  destruction  by  the 
Romans."  Let  him  have  Uvely  faith,  and  in  the  meantime 
reform  whatever  is  wrong  in  his  household  and  Court.  In 
spite  of  his  tribulations,  the  Friar  professes  himself  confident, 
and  urges  Ercole  to  have  no  fear.  "  Read  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures, or  have  them  read  to  you,  and  especially  the  Prophets, 
as  Jeremiah  and  Ezekiel ;  and  you  will  find  almost  every- 
thing similar  to  these  times."  * 

"  With  all  our  power  do  we  thank  you,"  wrote  Ercole  in 
reply,  "  for  your  affectionate  treatment  of  us  and  for  the 
good  suggestions  that  you  charitably  offer  us,  because  we 
see  that  they  are  worthy  of  your  goodness  and  corresponding 
to  the  love  that  you  bear  us,  and  we  are  extraordinarily 
obliged  to  you  for  it.  Verily,  for  your  satisfaction,  we 
assure  you  that  we  have  hitherto  never  doubted  that  those 
things  are  to  ensue  which  have  been  foretold  by  you,  and 
more  than  ever  are  we  of  this  firm  opinion  and  faith  that 
not  one  iota  shall  be  omitted  of  what  you  have  prophesied. 
It  is  quite  true  that,  seeing  the  delay  and  negligence  of  the 
King  of  France,  and  the  little  care  that  he  has  had  for  his 
own  honour  and  for  the  weal  of  his  friends,  we  have  doubted 
—and  do  doubt  very  much— lest  he  should  not  be  the  man 
who  IS  to  do  any  notable  and  eminent  achievement ;  and 
this  doubt  of  ours  is  not  alien  from  our  faith  and  beUef 

Letter  of  August  i,  1497,  in  Mansi's  Appendix  to  Baluze, 
H  i!!r**'  i-  PP-  585,  586.  In  this  same  month  of  August,  Sanudo 
descnbes  Ercole  as  having  become  **  very  Catholic,"  and  going 
about  in  a  carriage  with  his  doctor,  Francesco  da  Castello,  who 
lollows  him  everywhere.  Also  his  half-brother  Rinaldo  "is  en- 
-  n    ^ZT^  *^  devotion  ; "  but  it  is  reported  that,  a  few  days  ago, 

p  Alfonxo  fece  in  Ferrara  cossa  assa'  liziera,  che  andoe  nudo 
pa:  rerrara,  con  alcuni  zoveni  in  compaenia.  di  mezo  zomo." 
^«w,  i.  colL  706,  707. 

333 


DUKES  AND  POETSi 

in  what  concerns  you,  because  ir 
seen  that  the  King  of  France  of  i 
does  the  things  that  are  to  follow  ; 
been  foretold  by  you  and  if  "we  hsa 
not  have  failed  to  believe  it  also, 
others.  And  since  you  have  been 
this  your  sweet  letter,  we  should  be 
earnestly,  if  you  would  reveal  anc 
think  and  what  is  your  opinion  toi 
aforesaid  King  of  France,  and  wha 
we  esteem  you  so,  that  all  that  y< 
believed  by  us  as  a  thing  certain  ;  a 
desire,  we  shall  take  such  good  can 
us  that  it  will  not  come  to  the  knowL 
for  our  greater  content,  shall  receive  in 
from  and  shall  be  greatly  obliged  t 
selves  continually  ready  to  serve  you 
you  to  be  pleased  to  be  a  good  ami 
presence  of  our  Lord  God."  * 

Savonarola  delayed  some  while  in 
praying  for  many  days  for  light  to  sa 
at  length  he  could  only  say  that  the  el 
of  God  had  always  been  revealed  to 
that  he  still  saw  no  signs  that  the  King  i 
they  must  trust  in  God  *  In  the  mear 
Nero  and  his  four  associates  had  be( 
courtyard  of  the  Bargello's  quarters  ac 
Vecchio,  for  their  complicity  in  the  plot 
Medici.    Ercole  had  instructed  Manfred( 

^  Letter  dated  Modena,  August  8, 1497.    Ca; 

383. 
«  Letter  of  August  29,  1497.    Villari,  op.  cit., 

334 


THE  DUKE  AND  THE  FRIAR 

the  Signoria  for  their  lives,  but  the  sentence  had  been  carried 
out  before  the  ambassador's  instructions  reached  him. 
The  Florentines  had  been  bitterly  offended  at  the  inter- 
ference of  the  Duke  of  Milan — indeed,  Manfredo  thought 
that  it  had  hastened  the  prisoners'  deaths — ^but  they  were 
gratified  by  the  terms  of  the  Ferrarese  message.  In  answer 
to  questions  as  to  what  his  Duke  thought  of  the  executions, 
Manfredo  answered  in  effect  that  his  master  had  every  con- 
fidence in  the  prudence  of  the  people  of  Florence.* 

But,  in  spite  of  his  assurances  to  Savonarola,  Ercole  was 
wavering.     The    Venetian    forces    from    Ravenna    were 
threatening  Bagnacavallo,  and,  Charles  not  having  returned, 
the   time  for  surrendering   the    castelletto    of   Genoa  to 
Milan  was  at  hand.     At  Rome,  the  orators  of  Venice  and 
Milan  were  openly  declaring  that,  to  protect  Italy  from  a  new 
French  invasion,  the  only  way  was  to  crush  the  Italian 
rebels— the  Florentines  and  the  Duke  of  Ferrara.     "  They 
are  the  cause  of  the  ruin  of  Italy,"  they  said ;  "  it  is  they 
alone  who  keep  the  Most  Christian  King  in  hope  and  in 
thinking  of  the   affairs  of   Italy."'    Don   Ferrando   had 
returned  from  France,  and  the  Venetians  expressed  a  wish, 
to  take  him  into  their  service.    He  had  visited  Venice 
incognito  at  the  beginning  of  November,  but  the  Republic 
had,  agamst  Ercole's  will,  published  the  fact.    Ercole  was 
at  length  forced  to  give  way  and  humble  himself  again  before 
the  great  Republic,  and  go  in  person  to  Venice.     But  before 
going,  he  assured  Manfredo  that  this  visit  of  reconciliation 
was  only  for  purposes  of  self-protection,  and  instructed  him 
to  inform  the  Signoria  of  Florence  that  his  friendship  to- 


2  ??^P^^^^  ^^  August  29,  1497-    Cappelli,  op.  cit.,  p.  389. 
Manlredo's  dispatch  of  September  9,  1497.      Cappelli,  op. 


cit.. 


P-  392. 


335 


DUKES  AND  POETS   ; 

wards  them  was  unbroken  and  un 
ber  i6,  with  his  son  Don  Ferran 
Venetian  Visdomino,  Ercole  left 
subjects  liking  his  joiuney  as  little 
The  Doge  received  him  most  graciou 
the  conclusion  of  Ferrando's  condotti 
Duke,  "  that  we  may  verily  learn,  ai 
the  love  and  affection  that  this  most 
bears  us,"  and  made  fullest  profess 
good  will  towards  the  House  of  Este 

The  surrender  of  the  castelletto  of 
visit  to  Venice  roused  a  suspicion  in  FJ 
adhered  to  the  League,  without  pre 
Florentine  allies.  Manfredo  found  it 
long  interview  with  Savonarola,  who  p 
justice  of  the  Duke's  conduct.  A  fev 
professed  themselves  more  than  satisJ 
the  Duke  to  mediate  on  behalf  of  Floi 
the  restitution  of  Pisa ;  which  he  did  in 
without  result. 

But,  in  the  meanwhile,  the  Cardin 
having  yielded  in  the  matter  of  the  Ferrj 
IppoUto  being  made  Archbishop  of  Mi] 
Rome,  intriguing  in  his  father's  interests 

*  Letter  from  Ercole  to  Manfredo,  Noveml 
op,  cit.,  pp.  392,  393  ;  letter  from  Ercole  to 
from  Venice,  November  25,  Archivio  di  M 
Pfincipi  ;  Diario  Ferrarese,  col.  341 ;  Malipi 
497.  "  To  many  it  seemed  strange,"  writes  J 
Signoria  should  have  wished  to  give  its  arms  ii 
chief  of  its  enemies  ;  but  with  this  app6intmec 
rulers  of  Italy  to  their  duty,  and  especially  the  I 
The  Gonzaga,  whose  secret  dealings  with  Franc 
Chiara,  the  widow  of  Montpensier)  had  been  d 
cashiered  from  the  Venetian  service  in  the  prece 

336 


THE  DUKE  AND  THE  FRIAR 

and  especially,  according  to  the  paternal  instructions, 
currying  favour  with  the  Venetian  Cardinal  Grimani.  Ercole 
was  greatly  gratified  at  his  conduct.  "Your  excellent 
bearing  in  that  Court,"  he  wrote,  "  has  satisfied  us  so  much 
that,  if  there  could  be  obhgations  between  father  and  son, 
we  should  consider  ourselves  to  be  much  obUged  to  you." 
And  again,  a  few  days  later :  "  It  seems  to  us  that  our  Lord 
God  is  directing  and  governing  well  the  affairs  of  your  most 
reverend  Lordship,  and  that  you  are  deporting  yourself  in 
all  your  actions  with  such  dexterity  and  maturity  that  you 
faciUtate  every  arduous  undertaking  and  bring  it  to  a  suc- 
cessful end."  ^  At  the  end  of  February,  1498,  IppoUto  went 
to  enter  upon  his  new  office  at  Milan ;  but  the  result  of  his 
stay  in  Rome  had  been  to  draw  Ercole  still  more  from 
Savonarola  and  towards  the  Pope.  It  was,  indeed,  the 
beginning  of  the  end,  so  far  as  the  Duke's  relations  with 
Fra  Girolamo  were  concerned. 

Hearing  that,  in  spite  of  the  excommunication,  the  Friar 
was  going  to  preach  the  Lent  in  the  Duomo,  Manf  redo  sought 
him  on  January  31,  and  talked  to  him  for  a  long  while  upon 
the  subject.  Savonarola  told  him  that  he  most  certainly 
was  resolved  to  preach  this  Lent,  and  perhaps  even  sooner, 
if  It  were  intimated  to  him  by  those  who  could  conunand 
"^'  The  ambassador  was  puzzled.  "  Do  you  mean  that 
you  expect  a  conmiission  from  the  Pope,  or  from  the  Signoiia. 
^^^  •  "  Not  from  the  Signoria  nor  even  from  the  Pope, 
seeing  that  he  is  continuing  in  his  usual  mode  of  life,  besides 
I  know  he  certainly  does  not  intend  to  remove  from  me 
the  excommunication ;  but  from  One  who  is  higher  than  the 
Pope  and  all  other  creatures.'*     Manfredo  tried  in  vain  to 

tters  of  January  10    and  22,  1498.     Archivio.di  Modena, 

^^'^Wo  dei  Principi. 

337 


DUKES  AND  POKTS   IN 

dissuade  him.  "  We  shall  wait  for  t] 
affair,"  he  wrote  to  Ercole,  '*  by  wJ 
better  to  judge  what  foundation  it  is 
whether  it  be  divine  or  human."  ^  Oi 
came  the  famous  sermon  declaring 
invalid  and  the  Pope  a  broken  tool. 
diligently  informed ;  but  the  Duke's  m 
dared  go  no  further. 

An  opportunity  soon  came  for  him 
licly.  In  March,  Count  Gian  Franc 
pubUshed  at  Florence  a  defence  of  Savo: 
it  to  Ercole,  implying  that  he  had  writ 
of  a  conversation  that  he  had  had  \ 
request.^  Monsignor  Felino  Sandeo,  o 
prelates  of  the  Curia,  urged  the  Duke  to  t 
himself.  The  latter  at  once  wrote  back, 
entirely  from  Gian  Francesco,  protestin. 
consulted  him  as  to  the  validity  of  th< 
He  inclosed  a  letter  to  the  Pope  himself 
caUing  God  to  witness  that  he  had  noth 
pubUcation,  and  that  he  had  never  c 
authority  and  power  of  the  Sovereign  P< 

^  Dispatches  of  February  i  and  8.  Cappell 
^  Joannis  Francisd  Pici  Mirandulae  Opt 
excommunicationis  injusia  pro  Hieronymi  Suva 
innocentia.  This  Gian  Francesco  was  Ercole's 
the  Galeotto  della  Mirandola  we  have  so  often 
the  famous  scholar),  had  been  urged  to  repen 
in  two  letters  (Marchese,  Letter$  inedite  di 
124-126),  but  in  vain.  Galeotto  died  in  April 
excommunicated  for  sixteen  years  and  Miran( 
interdict^  but  Alexander  gave  the  widowed  Bii 
to  bury  him  in  church.  Diario  Ferranse,  col. 
*  Letters  from  Ercole  to  Felino  Sandeo  and  '. 
March  26,  1498.     Cappelli,  op,  cit.,  pp.  399, 400. 

338 


THE  DUKE  AND  THE  FRIAR 

observed  that  this  letter  does  little  credit  to  the  Duke  and 
sho^^^rs  how  impossible  a  reUgious  reformation  was,  at  that 
epooh,  in  Italy  ;  but  to  me,  unless  I  read  the  man's  character 
^^rx-oxxg,  it  appears  a  perfectly  sincere  utterance  on  Ercole's 
I>ajrt-  He  conscientiously  believed  that  even  the  Borgia 
lield  the  keys  of  Heaven  and  Hell. 

^Nevertheless,  Ercole  followed  closely  every  detail  in  the 
closing  scenes  of  the  tragedy  that  ended  in  front  of  the 
P^tla^^o  Vecchio  on  the  morning  of  May  23,  1498.  It  is  tm- 
certain.  ivhether  he  made  any  effort  to  save  the  Friar  from 
liis  f  a-te  ;  but  it  would,  in  any  case,  have  been  in  vain.  At 
least,  he  did  not  sink  to  dissimulating  his  heartfelt  sorrow. 


339 


Chapter  X 

IN   THE   CLOSE    OF    THi 
TROCENTO 

FOR  all  in  Ferrara,  high  and  low  alil^ 
had  remained  a  saint  and  prophet 
was  whispered  that,  in  the  hour  that  the 
immured  in  a  colmnn  in  a  church  in  Viterh 
souls  of  the  three  martyrs — Savonarola,  Fr 
Fra  Silvestro — carried  up  into  Paradise  by 
that  a  bhnd  man  had  recovered  his  sight 
eyes  with  their  ashes,  that  devils  had  been  < 
nuns  in  a  convent  at  Florence,  and  th 
miracles  had  been  wrought  after  their  deatl 
in  Ferrara  grew  very  bitter  for  a  while  ag 
Dominican  order,  which  had  deserted  Fra 
especially  against  its  general,  Fra  Giovac 
of  Venice,  who,  together  with  Monsignor 
delivered  him  over  to  the  secular  arm.  Whei 
ing  June,  the  general  chapter  of  the  Friars 
held  in  Ferrara,  the  people  murmured  aga 
refused  them  their  usual  alms.^  Ercole  hin 
remained  devoted  to  the  Order  and  on  most 

*  Diatio  Ferrarese,  coll.  353,  354.  Zambotto  (f 
Paolo  da  Lignago  (f.  160)  similarly  bear  witness  1 
sanctity,  the  latter  exulting  in  the  evil  end  of  all  his 

340 


IN  THE  CLOSE  OF  THE  QUATTROCENTO 

with  Fra  Giovacchino,  who  had,  for  the  rest,  acted  in  good 
faith.  But,  indeed,  the  Duke  had  abandoned  the  cause  of 
the  prophet,  even  as  his  brethren  in  religion. 

On  the  very  same  Saturday,  April  7,  1498,  that  the 
miserable  fiasco  of  the  ordeal  by  fire  in  the  Piazza  della 
Signoria  at  Florence  had  brought  Fra  Girolamo's  career  to 
so  ignominious  an  end,  Charles  VIII  of  France — the  new 
C5mis  of  his  prophetic  dreams,  the  Amico  who,  he  had 
assured  Ercole,  had  not  been  cast  off  by  God — ^had  been 
struck  down  by  an  apopletic  stroke  at  Amboise,  and  "  ended 
in  a  few  hours  the  life  with  which  he  had,  with  more  impetu- 
osity than  ability,  disturbed  the  world,  and  there  was  great 
danger  lest  he  should  disturb  it  anew."* 

But,  with  the  death  of  Charles,  the  danger  was  by  no 
means  averted.    The  Duke  of  Orleans  succeeded  to  the 
throne  as  Louis  XII,  and  promptly  "  made  known  to  every 
one  what  his  inclination  was  to  the  affairs  of  Italy,"  by 
assuming  not  only  the  title  of  King  of  France,  but  also  those 
of  Duke  of  Milan  and  King  of  Jerusalem  and  the  Two 
Sicilies,  thus  reviving  at  once  in  his  person  the  claims   of 
the  Visconti  on  Milan  and  the  Angevins  on  Naples.    Borso 
da  Correggio,  "  with  a  goodly  company  of  horse  and  foot," 
went  as  special  ambassador  of  Ercole  to  France,  to  congratu- 
late the  new  sovereign. 

There  was,  however,  a  short  breathing-space,  during  whicli 
war  raged,  not  very  fiercely,  in  Tuscany  concerning  the 
liberation  of  Pisa.  The  Venetians,  under  pretext  of  freeing 
the  beleaguered  city  from  the  Florentines,  were  preparing  **  a 
very  great  war,"  as  the  Ferrarese  Diarist  has  it,  and  invaded 
the  Casentino.  Their  forces  were  commanded  by  Duke 
Guidobalddo  of  Urbino,  Astorre  Baglioni  (who  was  to  fall  a 
^  Guicdardini,  iii.  6. 


DUKES  AND  POETS  IN  ; 

victim  in  the  famous  tragedy  of  the 
Bartolommeo  d'Alviano  and  others.  1 
saw,  in  their  proposed  zeal  for  the  libc 
intention  of  taking  the  place  for  them 
extending  their  power  on  the  Mediterri 
the  Florentines.  "  It  is  not  true/'  he  i 
ambassador,  Marco  Lippomano,  ^^  that  i 
Pisa  in  liberty  ;  you  want  to  subdue  it ; 
got  Pisa,  you  will  wish  for  Leghorn 
jealous  for  my  State,  as  you  are  for  youn 
you  to  have  it." '  He  refused  a  passage 
sent  money  and  men  to  the  Florentines 

Ercole  kept  strictly  neutral  in  this  w 
Ferrando,  as  a  condottiere  of  the  Most  Se 
been  forced  to  march  his  troops  towards 
his  will ;  another,  Don  Sigismondo,  was 
Milan  as  a  sort  of  counterpoise ;  while  A] 
holiday,  si  dava  piacere,  in  Ferrara.  We 
neither  the  soldiering  nor  the  enjoymen 
very  effectual  in  this  year,  as  all  three 
penalty  of  their  vices,  and  suffering  moi 
from  the  unmentionable  disease  that  was  n 
of  Italy  at  this  time.* 

Don  Ferrando  was  as  troublesome  ai 
source  of  anxiety  to  his  father  in  the  servic 
had  been  when  following  the  banner  of  Fra 
given  passage  through  his  territory  to  the 
to  which  Lodovico  Sforza*s  hostility  had  c 
and   easier   way   of    Parma  and  Pontn 

^  MaJipien),  p.  506. 

*  On  this  unsavoury  theme,  cf.  Diario  Ferrar 
362,  and  Lttcrezia  Bentivoglio's  letter  to  Sigismonc 


IN  THE  CLOSE  OF  THE  QUATTROCENTO 

marched  his  men  through  the  Garfagnana,  and  the  Venetian 
Proweditore  ordered  him  to  lay  waste  the  country  near 
Barga,  which  belonged  to  Florence.     But  Ercole  wrote  him 
a  forcibly  worded  letter,  intended  to  be  shown  to  the  Prov- 
veditore,  forbidding  him  to  do  this,  as,  Barga  Isdng  so  near 
his  own  territory,  it  would  seem  an  act  of  hostility  on  his 
part  towards  his  friends  the  Florentines,  especially  as  these 
latter  had  complained  at   his  letting  his  son  go  against 
them  and  having  given  him  the  passage/  Ferrando's  soldiers, 
over  whom  he  appears  to  have  had  no  control,  threatened  to 
plunder  the  Pisans  and  grumbled  against  the  Signoria,  and 
Ercole  suggested  that  he  should  hang  one,  "  to  give  an 
example  to  the  others  that  they  be  wise,"  as  the  Signoria 
had  heard  a  great  deal  of  their  bad  behaviour.*    Although 
he  acquitted  himself  creditably  and  the  Signoria  professed 
themselves  convinced  of  his  faith,  Ferrando  was  as  usual 
very  discontented,  complained  that  he  was  kept  short  of 
means,  and  threatened  to  return  home.    Ercole  was  aghast. 
"  We  are  much  amazed,"  he  wrote  to  his  son,  "  that  you 
have  had  the  presumption  to  say  that  you  will  go  away,  for 
we  should  not  have  believed  that  you  would  even  have 
dared  to  thmk  of  it.  And,  therefore,  we  expressly  conunand 
you,  that  on  no  account  must  you  go  away.  For,  if  you  were 
to  depart  thence  without  the  good  leave  of  the  most  illus- 
trious Signoria,  and  it  were  to  be  displeased  at  your  departure, 
as  it  would  be,  you  would  not  be  welcomed  by  us,  and  we 
should  not  receive  you  here  in  our  house  nor  give  you  any- 
thing;   but  we  should  drive  you  away,  as  one  who  had 
entirely  disobeyed  our  will  and  conamandments,  nor  ever 

^  Minute  Ducali  to  Don  Ferrando,  July  i,  1498.    Archivio  di  Mo- 
dena,  CarUggio  dei  Principi. 

Minute  Ducali,  August  23,  1498.     Archivio  di  Modena,  he.  cit. 

343 


DUKES  AND  POETS    I 

more  should  we  see  you  gladly,  beos 
too  great  and  presumptuous."  ^ 

For  the  rest,  Ercole  seemed  absorl 
his  buildings.  Every  day  he  rode 
sung,  now  in  one  church  and  no^r  : 
more  bent  than  ever  upon  his  pul 
quarter  of  the  city,  where  preparatio 
erecting  the  great  equestrian  statue  < 
where  the  rather  insignificant  monum 
now  rises  ;  he  redecorated  and  restoi 
churches  and  monasteries.  "He  k 
writes  the  Diarist,  "by  going  every 
Mass,  now  to  one,  now  to  another  ch 
them  to  be  decorated ;  and  then  he 
bo3rs,  sons  of  different  gentlemen,  iron 
years  old,  whom  he  keeps  in  his  house, 
letters  and  singing  by  a  master,  and  he 
everything  for  them,  and  he  brings  th 
room,  when  he  has  nothing  to  do,  and 
them.''* 

The  carnival  of  1499  was  brilliant 
peace,  with  the  usual  dances  and  dram 
the  Sala  Grande  of  the  G)rte  Vecchia, 
Mirandola  (destined  in  two  months  to  I 
chief  hostess  and  queen  of  the  revels. 
Terence  was  first  played,  with  entirely 
decorations ;  nearly  three  hundred  actc 
comedy  and  interludes  together ;  in  one 
of  pantomime  raised  much  applause,  in  wl 

^  Minuie  Ducali,  December  14,  1498.      Arc 

*  Diario  Ferrarese,  col.  359. 

344 


IN  THE  CLOSE  OF  THE  QUATTROCENTO 

while  feasting  was  attacked  by  a  bear,  "  who  played  his  part 
so  excellently  that  many  thought  he  was  real."    On  sub- 
sequent days  two  Plautine  comedies,  theTrinummus  and  the 
PoenuluSy  were  performed,  with  morris-dances,  one  of  which 
represented  an  allegory  of  the  pursuit  of  Fortune.      On 
February  12,  which  was  Shrove  Tuesday,  they  danced  till 
dark ;  then  the  torches  were  lit  and  the  windows  closed,  and 
the  Eunuchus  was  played  again  with  new  morris-dances, 
including  a  masque  of  wild  men  and  nsnnphs  hunting  a  bear, 
a  panther  and  an  ape  (that  is,  men  dressed  in  the  skins  of 
these  beasts),  which  somewhat  primitive  amusement  appears 
to  have  pleased  the  learned  Zambotto  immensely.    The 
Marchesana  Isabella  arrived  a  few  days  later.    The  three 
comedies  were  repeated  in  private  for  her  to  see,  and,  on  the 
second  Sunday  of  Lent,  the  Duke  gave  a  great  ball  in  her 
honour,  after  which  the  Eunuchus,  the  one  that  pleased  her 
most,  was  performed  again.*    In  the  following  night,  a 
number  of  things  that  had  been  used  for  the  decorations 
were  stolen ;  but  the  Duke,  who  had  been  in  unusual  pleasure 
this  carnival  and  did  not  wish  to  have  to  punish  any  one, 
would  have  no  inquiry  made.*    It  w:as  noticed  that,  during 
the  fortnight   that  she  stayed  in  Ferrara,  Isabella  gave 
public  dances  in  her  father's  palace,  notwithstanding  that 
Lent  had  begun.* 
Ercole  had  akeady  attempted   to  bring  about  peace 


^  This  carnival,  especially  with  reference  to  the  entertainments, 
is  fully  described  in  four  letters  from  Giovanni  Penoaro,  a  native  of 
Parma  attached  to  the  Ferrarese  Court,  to  Isabella  d'  Este  Gonzaga, 
published  by  Luzio  and  Renier,  Commedie  classiche  in  Ferrara  ml 
'499>  PP- 182-189-  There  is  a  slighter  account,  in  which  the  names  of 
the  Plautine  comedies  are  not  given,  in  Zambotto,  f.  327»- 
'  Zambotto,  f.  328. 
^  Diario  Ferrarese,  col.  361. 

345  ^ 


DUKES  AND  POETS 

between  Florence  and  Venice  ;  bu 
result.  During  the  winter,  howev 
on  both  sides  ;  and  Lodovico  Sf oi 
at  the  alliance  which  was  in  prepar 
France.  After  some  three  months' 
at  Ferrara,  Lodovico  prevailed  up 
invitation  of  the  Venetians,  and  go 
mediator — though  he  seems  to  hav 
inducing  the  Florentines  to  consent  t 
to  Guicciardini,  the  Moro  hoped  tha 
about  and  by  his  means,  the  Venetia: 
of  the  coming  of  the  French  and  I 
himself ;  while  the  Florentines  were 
pronounced  judgment  in  Venice,  won 
a  decision  more  favourable  to  the  V( 
have  done  of  his  own  accord. 

On  March  15,  1499,  Ercole  with 
Milanese  ambassador  set  out  for  \ 
sumptuously  received  and  entertai 
palace  of  his  House.  The  Florentine 
Giovanni  Battista  Ridolfi  and  Paolo 
Venice,  on  March  25,  Ercole  witness 
son-in-law  of  Milan  had  striven  to  a\ 
damation  of  the  new  League  betweei 
The  ducal  palace  and  the  piazza  were  si 
a  great  wind  was  blowing,  and  a  ban 
missed  killing  the  Doge  himself. 

^  The  alliance  had  been  concluded  at  Ang 
Febmary  21,  while  Isabella  was  at  Ferrara,  t 
came  to  announce  the  fact  to  the  Duke,  in  it 
and  Isabella  had  instantly  written  to  infon 
and  Renier,  Delle  Rslationi  di  Isabella  d'  Est 
Beairtce  Sforsa,  p.  664.  This  son  of  the 
bella  does  not  name  in  her  letter,  is  young  Pii 

346 


IN    THE  CLOSE   OF  THE  QUATTROCENTO 

After  much  difficulty  and  discussion,  the  matter  was 
absolutely  committed  to  Ercole's  arbitration.  On  April  6, 
he  read  his  decision  to  the  Collegio.  He  had  had  a  very 
difficult  task,  and  undeniably  showed  an  unusual  degree  of 
moral  courage.  His  decision  was  a  compromise,  but  very 
decidedly  in  favour  of  the  Florentines.  The  Venetians  were 
to  evacuate  the  Pisan  territory  and  to  restore  Bibbiena  to 
the  Florentines,  with  the  other  places  which  they  had  taken  ; 
in  compensation,  however,  for  the  costs  of  the  war,  the 
Florentines  were  to  pay  them  100,000  ducats  in  twelve 
annual  payments ;  the  Florentines  were  to  have  back  their 
old  rights  over  Pisa  and  its  territory,  but  to  give  the  Pisans 
a  conoplete  amnesty  for  the  past,  as  well  as  to  grant  them  a 
number  of  fresh  privUeges  and  Uberties,  both  political  and 
commercial. 

Though  the  Doge  and  the  Collegio  maintained  a  correct 
and  courteous  bearing  as  long  as  Ercole  was  present,  the 
Venetians,  high  and  low,  were  furious  at  his  decision.  That 
night  a  mob  gathered  round  his  palace,  hooting  and 
hissing,  shouting  abuse  and  calling  him  a  traitor.  He  was 
insulted  in  the  streets,  untU  neither  he  nor  the  ambassadors 
of  Milan  and  Florence  dared  to  appear  in  public.  To 
appease  in  some  part  the  piteous  appeals  of  the  Pisan 
envoys,  the  chief  Venetian  senators  induced  Ercole  to  make 
a  few  additions,  which  did  not,  however,  materially  alter  the 
decision.  In  fact,  no  one  was  satisfied.  The  Pisans  declared 
that  they  were  more  enslaved  than  ever ;  the  Florentines  said 
that  they  got  nothing  but  the  bare  name  of  dominion,  and 
were  being  forced  to  pay  the  expenses  of  those  who  had 
unjustly  assailed  them.  Nevertheless,  after  a  long  discus- 
sion in  the  Pregadi,  it  was  decided  by  a  large  majority  of 
votes  that  Venice  would  abide  by  the  Duke's  arbitration,  and 

347 


DUKES  AND  POETS 

recall  her  army  and  Prowediton 
larly  ratified  the  peace  and  sentenc 
which  had  been  made  without  theii 
determined  to  resist  to  the  last,  rati 
Florentine  yoke.* 

Ercole  left  Venice  "  with  the  ma] 
as  Malipiero  has  it.  When  he  got  I 
13,  the  officials  of  the  Visdomino  to 
insisting  upon  searching  the  bagga^ 
plea  that  the  conditions  of  the  Venet: 
observed.*  The  Ferrarese  ambassador 
fredi,  wrote  that  the  Pope  was  am 
Ercole's  conduct.'  Nevertheless,  to 
it  must  be  perfectly  obvious  that  he  h 
without  human  respect,  endeavoure 
difficult  duty  for  the  peace  and  welfs 
in  this  negotiation  for  an  agreemc] 
decision,"  he  wrote  to  Don  Ferrandc 
very  best  for  that  magnificent  commi 
because  of  our  respect  for  the  most 
Venice,  which  has  it  under  its  protects 
the  love  and  benevolence  that  we  have 
Pisans,  and  because  of  the  desire  that 
peace  and  quiet  of  that  city  and  of  the 
although  the  Pisans  are  perchance  aggr 
our  decision,  yet  we  doubt  not  that,  if  t 
whole,  they  will  be  quite  satisfied;  and 

1  Gnicciardini,  iv  3,  4  ;  Malipiero,  .pp.  531 
Machiavetti,  i.  pp.  328,  329.  This  general  dj 
may  be  taken  as  fair  evidence  in  favour  of 
of  Eicole's  decision ;  but  Pisa  held  out  until  i 

*  Diario  Ferrarsse,  col.  363. 

'  Balan,  v.  p.  498. 

348 


IN     THE   CLOSE  OF  THE  QUATTROCENTO 

recognise  inore  that  we  have  fully  considered  their  interests, 
axid  so  also  for  the  future  we  shall  not  fail  to  give  them  every 
l^enefit  ajad  favour.  If  we  could  have  done  more  for  their 
a^dvaxita^e,  -we  would  have  done  it  right  gladly.  But  it  was 
also  neoessaj^r  to  act  in  such  a  way  that  the  result  should  be 
an  effectiial  peace."  * 

In  tlie  nueanwhile  the  alliance  between  France  and  Venice, 
for  the  division  of  the  Duchy  of  Milan  between  them,  had 
l>een  solemnly  ratified.  The  adhesion  of  Alexander  VI  had 
been  procnred,  not  without  difficulty,  by  the  exaltation  of 
Cesaxe  Borgia — ^who  was,  as  his  Holiness  assured  the  French 
King,  tlie  dearest  thing  that  he  possessed  on  earth.*  Cesare 
lia.d  a.l>3nxed  the  Cardinalate,  and  had  received  from  Louis 
the  rXucliy  of  Valence,  with  a  princess  of  Navarre,  Charlotte 
d' Albret,  for  wife,  and  probably  a  promise  of  effectual  sup- 
port in  liis  designs  of  building  himself  up  a  vast  principality 
in    Italy  itself. 

Lodovico  Sforza  found  himself  left  alone  to  face  the  storm. 
He  had  lioped  to  assail  the  Venetians  first ;  but  all  his 
prospective  allies  failed  him.  Maximilian  would  willingly 
Ixave  txelped,  but  his  hands  were  tied  by  his  own  struggle  with 
the  S^wiss.  The  King  of  Naples  promised  to  send  a  force 
^;iixder  P^rospero  Colonna  and  to  assail  the  Papal  States,  but 
d.id  ixeither.  The  Turk  alone  was  in  arms  in  his  favour.  As 
-tc>  th^  minor  Powers,  the  Florentines  remained  neutral,  and 
ooixt:iixned  the  siege  of  Pisa. 

"ErX-c^ole,  since  the  death  of  Beatrice,  had  grown  more  and 

xi^.or-e    alienated  from  the  Sforza ;   to  the  Moro's  appeal  for 

^^d.>  lae  answered  that  the  frontiers  of  Venice  were  too  near 

'^^   X-etter  of  April  19,  1499.      Archivio  di  Modena,  CarUggi^  d^i 
'f>r^ncipi^    See  Appendix  II.  document  18. 

«    :Briei  of  September  28,  1498.     Pastor,  iii.  p.  417. 

349 


DUKES  AND  POETS 

the  gates  of  Ferrara,  and  that  he  z 
In  spite  of  a  request  from  Ippolit 
in  his  diocese  of  Milan  and  wannJ 
the  Sforza — ^he  refused  to  allow  Gi 
Lodovico's  condottieri,  a  safe-con< 
the  Modenese.^  He  was  aghast 
Ippolito  was  having  a  suit  of  whit< 
the  intention  of  personally  fighting 
professed  himself  exceedingly  scan 
conduct  in  a  prelate  of  the  Church 
''  If  we  still  have  any  paternal  au 
ship,  we  command  you  to  desist  fr< 
and  to  strive  to  live  like  a  good  i 
reverend  Cardinal.  If,  perchance,  ; 
you  that,  by  arming,  you  could  give 
illustrious  Lord  Duke  of  Milan  or  ben< 
that  he  who  gave  such  advice  loves  : 
your  Lordship  less.  For  your  taking 
our  Lord  God  and  provoke  Him  to  a 
Him  contrary  to  the  side  for  which  ) 
you  wish  to  help  the  said  most  excel 
all  should  wish),  let  your  Lordship 
Pray  to  our  Lord  God  for  the  safe 
Excellence  and  of  his  armies,  and  mal 
secular  clergy  throughout  your  provij 
yourself  at  these  prayers,  as  is  your 
mission.  These  will  be  good  white  an 
irregularity  and  with  great  merit.  If  3 
commit  a  mortal  sin  and  be  worthy 
And  if  you  were  present  when  any  one 

*  Letter  of  August  7,  1499.    Archivio  d 
Prindpi. 

350 


IN  THE  CLOSE  OF  THE  QUATTROCENTO 

be  irregular ;  because  it  is  not  lawful  for  simple  clerics  to 
combat,  save  for  the  necessary  defence  of  their  persons,  when 
they  are  assailed  by  others  and  cannot  otherwise  escape ; 
much  less  is  it  lawful  for  a  Cardmal  and  Archbishop.  And 
you  must  consider  that  every  little  unpoptdarity  which  you 
have  at  Rome  will,  in  these  cases  (as  could  easily  happen), 
exaggerate  your  sin ;  besides  the  infamy  and  the  in- 
dehble  stain  which  you  would  acquire  from  it,  and  the 
danger  of  your  Ufe  or  of  the  mutUation  of  some  limb.  Then 
fear  our  Lord  God  and  acknowledge  His  benefits  ;  remember 
that,  if  you  do  not  keep  His  commandments  and  if  you  are 
not  grateful  to  Him,  He  will  make  you  recognize  your  error 
by  the  sword  of  His  justice.  And  if  it  seems  to  Him  that 
your  excess  does  not  merit  mercy  (as  this  would  not  merit 
it,  bemg  only  too  contrary  to  the  Christian  faith  and  religion). 
He  will  do  worse  to  you."  ^ 

The  French  army  under  Trivulzio  and  Ligny  had  crossed 
the  Alps  in  July,  and  begun  hostiUties  in  August.  Lodo- 
vice's  resistance  coUapsed.  Fortress  after  fortress  fell  be- 
fore them,  and  the  surrender  of  Alessandria  showed  that  all 
was  lost.  Although  the  Turk  was  preparing  to  assail  them 
in  the  FriuU,  the  Venetians  crossed  the  Adda  and  occupied 
Lodi.  Deserted  by  the  Marquis  of  Mantua  and  by  the  Count 
of  Caiazzo,  Lodovico  fled  from  Milan  to  Como,  and  thence 
made  his  way  to  join  MaximiUan  in  the  Tyrol.  On 
September  6,  Trivulzio  and  the  royal  army  entered  Milan 
without  any  resistance  ;  "  and  of  the  Duke  of  Milan  men 
spoke  no  more,  even  as  though  he  had  never  been  in  the 

T>IJ^^  f  ^^^^^  ^^'  ^499.  Archivio  di  Modcna,  Carteggio  dei 
j-rjnctpt  AS  this  long  letter  is  a  characteristic  example  of  the  tor- 
tuous  aiicl  strange  ways  in  which  Ereole's  mind  and  heart  worked 
to  wnat  TOs,  no  doubt,  a  perfectly  just  and  proper  conclusion,  I 
give  the  full  text  in  Appendbc  II.  d^ument  20^^    ^ 

351 


DUKES  AND  POETS    I^ 

world/'  ^  Cremona  surrendered  to  tfa 
later.  King  Louis  himself  made  his 
the  Lombard  capital. 

On  the  news  of  the  fall  of  Milan, 
his  ambassador,  Ettore  Berlinghieri, 
assure  him  of  his  fidelity  to  the  cause 
allied  to  the  contrary  are  mere  fictit 
Venetians,  "  in  order  that  they  may  m< 
according  to  their  appetite,  although  fr 
received  any  offence  or  injury."  "  B 
lent  us  grace  that,  also  in  this  enterpri 
Most  Christian  King  for  the  Duchy  of 
severed  in  the  devotion  that  we  have  a 
his  Majesty  and  towards  the  Crown  of  ] 
lent  any  aid  to  the  most  illustrious  Loi 
anjrthing — ^not  of  our  men-at-arms,  n< 
not  of  cannons  nor  of  shot,  for  which  tl 
many  times  besought  us  ;  and  because 
him,  he  complained  of  us  publicly,  as  ca 
hundred  gentlemen  in  Milan."  It  is  tni< 
who  was  in  the  Duke's  service  before  th( 
between  him  and  the  Crown  of  France,  1: 
to  send  his  soldiers  who  were  in  Lodovico 
is  convinced  that  neither  the  King  nor  ' 
sider  that  he  has  failed  in  his  duty  to  his  ] 
this,  especially  as  he  has  not  allowed  Dc 
to  serve  his  enemy.  He  has  postponed 
Lodovico  for  his  faith  and  devotion  t( 
Christian  Majesty ;  and  if  the  latter  and 
judge  his  actions  fairly,  they  must  not  1 
what  they  hear  from  Venice  against  him, 
^  Diano  Ferrarese,  col.  369. 

352 


IN  THE  CLOSE  OF  THE  QUATTROCENTO 

firmed  from  another  source.  In  answer,  Trivnlzio  strongly 
advised  Ercole  to  come  in  person  and  do  reverence  to  the 
King  on  his  arrival  in  Milan ;  which  the  Duke  decided  to  do, 
especially  as  he  heard  that  Louis  was  going  to  take  Ferrara 
under  his  protection.  "  When  we  shall  find  ourselves  in  the 
presence  of  his  Majesty,"  he  wrote  to  Manfredo  Manfredi, 
who  was  still  his  orator  to  the  Republic  of  Florence,  "  while 
we  act  for  ourselves,  we  shall  not  omit  likewise  to  do  all  we 
can  for  the  benefit  of  that  lofty  Signoria."  ^ 

Accordingly,  Ercole,  with  his  sons  Alfonso  and  Ferrando, 
hastened  to  meet  the  King,  and  accompanied  him  in  his 
triumphal  entrance  into  Milan.    The  Cardinal  Ippolito  had 
shared  Lodovico's  flight  mto  the  Tyrol.    With  the  exception 
of  King  Federigo  of  Naples,  all  the  Italian  princes,  either 
in  person  or  by  their  ambassadors,  had  come  to  congratulate 
the  French  conqueror,  or  to  make  their  peace  with  him. 
The  Florentines  found  the  greatest  difl&culty  in  this  respect ; 
but  Ercole,  who  stayed  in  Milan  nearly  a  month  and  was 
treated  by  the  King  with  special  marks  of  confidence  and 
esteem,  found  that  he,  too,  had  to  pay  a  large  sum  of  money 
before  he  could  get  his  duchy  taken  under  the  royal  pro- 
tection—his conduct,  since  he  had  consigned  the  castelletto 
of  Genoa  into  the  hands  of  Lodovico  Sforza,  being  regarded 
as  unsatisfactory .«    His  Majesty  took  particular  exception 
to  the  fact  that  Ippolito  was  still  with  the  fugitive  Duke, 
and  Ercole  dispatched  one  of  his  chancellors,  Gian  Giorgio 
Seregnio,  with  an  imperative  letter  to  the  Cardinal,  bidding 
him  return  without  delay,   "  come  flying,''  to  Italy.     "  If 

^  Minute  Ducali  of  September  14  and  21,  1499,  to  Ettore  Ber- 
Imghicn,  and  of  September  23  to  Manfredo  Manfredi.      Aichivio  di 
Modena,  MinutaHo  Cronohgico. 
So  at  least  Guicciardini,  iv.  4. 

353 


DUKES  AND  POETS  IM 

you  do  not  return,  you  will  lose  your  l 
in  this  dominion,  and  will  put  us  in±t 
our  State,  without  any  fruit  or  benefii 
illustrious  Lord  Duke.  And,  theref  c 
command  you  by  our  paternal  author 
excuses  or  delay  or  any  loss  of  time,  y  o 
and  as  quickly  as  Gian  Giorgio  himseJ 
your  return  imports  more  than  we  c^lh 

Giovanni  Bentivoglio,  who  was  rej 
Annibale,  was  compelled  to  obtain  the 
for  his  House  for  a  similar  financial  coi 
of  his  previous  oscillations  between  Fr 
the  Marquis  of  Mantua,  who  had  met 
appears  to  have  experienced  less  diffic 
honours  upon  him,  and  took  him  into 
stipend  of  twelve  thousand  francs.* 

But,  indeed,  the  royal  protection  was 
tivdy  needed  by  both  Ferrara  and  Bolog 
henceforth  in  virtue  of  his  new  French 
II  Valentino,  was  in  the  company  of  tli 
his  favour.    He  had  large  schemes  on  h 

The  Pope  had  resolved  to  take  this 
alliance  with  France  to  build  up  for  his  < 
— to  devdope,  perhaps,  into  a  kingdon 
feudatories  of  Romagna,  the  petty  tyn 
Romagnole  cities  as  vicars  of  the  Chur 
lished  Bulls  dedaring  that  Pandolfo  Ma 
Giovanni   Sforza  of   Pesaro  (but  latdy 


1  Letter  dated  Milan^  October  21,  1499.  ^ 
Carteggio  dei  Principi.     Ippolito  returned  to  Fe: 

*  Cf .  L.  G.  P61issier,  La  Politique  du  Marquis 
la  luite  de  Louis  XII  et  d0  Ludovic  Sforxa,  pp.  9 

354 


IN  THE  CLOSE  OF  THE  QUATTROCENTO 

son-in-law),  Caterina  Sforza  Riario  and  her  young  sons  who 
ruled  Imola  and  Forli,  Astorre  Manfred!  of  Faenza,  Duke 
Guidobaldo  of  Urbino,  and  the  Varani  of  Camerino  had 
forfeited  their  fiefs,  for  not  having  paid  the  tributes  due  to 
the  Holy  See.  According  to  the  promise  he  had  made,  the 
French  King  put  at  Cesare's  disposal  300  lances  under  Yves 
d' Alldgre,  at  his  own  cost,  and  4,000  Swiss  to  be  paid  by  the 
Pope— nominally  to  recover  those  revolted  cities  for  the 
Holy  See,  in  reality  to  conquer  them  for  the  Borgia. 

Included    Ukewise    in    Romagna    were    Ravenna    and 
Cervia ;  but  these  had  passed  in  the  earlier  part  of  the 
century  into  the  hands  of  Venice,  the  ally  of  France,  against 
whose  power  nothing  could  be  attempted.    His  ducal  rank 
and  his  position  among  the  princes  of  Italy  differentiated 
Ercole  d'  Este  from  his  Romagnole  neighbours.    Alexander 
seems,  indeed,  for  a  moment  to  have  contemplated  the  pos- 
sibility of  grasping  Ferrara  for  his  son  ;  but  the  opposition 
of  Venice  and  the  protection  of  France  compelled  him  to 
abandon  the  project.^    Bologna  also,  strictly  speaking,  was 
a  city  of  the  Papal  States  ;  Giovanni  Bentivoglio  ruled  it,  not 
as  vicar  of  the  Church,  but  as  a  sort  of  informal  head  of  the 
Republic  ;  it  seemed  an  equally  tempting  prize,  and  one  far 
easier  of  acquisition  than  Ferrara.    Here,  too,  however, 
there  was  the  newly  acquired  French  protectorate  in  the 
way.  Nevertheless,  both  Ercole  and  the  Bentivoglio  realized 
their  danger. 

But  neither  of  them  ventured  to  cross  the  dreaded  Borgia's 
path.  Ercole  gave  Cesare's  French  and  papal  auxiliaries 
the  passage  through  his  dominions,  both  through  Ferrara 
and  the  Modenese— Cesare  himself  with  the  main  body 
taking  the  latter  course.  This  was  in  November.  At  Bon- 
^  C£.  Pastor,  iii.  p.  425,  note  5. 
355 


DUKES  AND  POETS   IN 

deno,  in  the  Ferrarese  territory,  a  p 
the  place,  murdered  the  ducal  Podi 
Bendedei,  with  several  ecclesiastics  ai 
persons,  and  hung  out  the  banners  of  t 
of  France  on  the  castle ;  and  they  repeal 
or  worse,  a  few  hours  later  in  the  Borgo 
was  helpless :  ^'  we  had  to  have  pati 
rendered  to  the  Borgia  at  the  end  o 
weeks  later,  he  was  lord  of  Forll,  and  M; 
sent  as  prisoner  to  Rome.  His  further  | 
by  the  recall  of  his  French  troops.  1 
brutalities  of  the  French  and  the  prep< 
whom  the  King  had  left  in  his  stead,  the 
at  the  approach  of  Lodovico  and  the  Cai 
a  hastily  collected  force  of  Swiss  and 
February,  1500,  the  Sforza  were  once  moi 
Two  days  before  Lodovico  re-entere( 
news  of  the  revolution  in  Milan  reached 
of  Ercole's  French  policy,  the  Moro  h 
in  Ferrara  (his  conduct  in  the  matter  of  th< 
had  been  forgotten),  and  there  was  much 
evening  a  mad  Servite  monk.  Era  Harcellc 
the  streets,  beating  a  drum  and  followed  b> 
Shouting  "  Moro  I  Moro  I ''  they  went  to 
Venetian  Visdomino,  and  made  a  tremendc 
door.  The  outraged  functionary  protested  1 
there  were  hints  of  possible  complications  \ 
Venice.  On  the  following  afternoon,  first  fi 
of  the  Palazzo  della  Ragione  and  afterwards 
city,  it  was  solenmly  proclaimed  to  the  sou 

*  Diario  Ferrame,  col  27$. 
356 


IN  THE  CLOSE  OF  THE  QUATTROCENTO 

that  the  Duke's  Excellence  was  greatly  displeased  at  what 
had  happened,  and  that  he  commanded  that  for  the  future, 
in  Ferrara  and  its  suburbs,  no  one  should  dare  to  name 
or  talk  of  any  Lords  or  Kings  whatever,  under  penalty 
of  a  fine  of  a  hundred  gold  ducats  for  each  adult  offender, 
or  more  according  to  his  Lordship's  discretion,  and,  in  the 
case  of  boys,  a  sotmd  whipping,  twenty-five  staffUcUCy  for 
each  of  them/ 

Ercole,  realizing  the  purely  ephemeral  character  of  Lodo- 
vico's  success,  sent  Giovanni  Valla  as  special  envoy  to  the 
French  King.    Avoiding  the  towns  obedient  to  Milan,  he 
was  to  go,  with  all  possible  diligence  and  speed,  into  the 
presence  of  the  Most  Christian  King,  to  assure  him  that  the 
Duke  had  abstained  from  rendering  favour  or  aid  of  any 
kind  to  Lodovico,  "  although  he  is  our  son-in-law  and  his 
sons  are  our  grand-children."    He  was  to  lay  stress  upon 
the  kind  reception  and  treatment  that  the  French  troops  had 
experienced  in  passing  through  the  ducal  territory,  although, 
for   the   abominable    cruelties  and  atrocities    that    they 
committed,  "  they  would  deservedly  have  all  been  cut  to 
pieces  by  otu*  subjects."    He  was  to  deny  emphatically  that 
Ercole  had  held  any  communication  with  Lodovico  before 
the  latter  returned  into    Italy,   or  that  he     had    sent 
any  ambassador  to  the  King  of  the  Romans,  or  ever  sent  to 
Lodovico  the  least  invitation  to  come  back ;   he  had  not 
lent  him  the  slightest  assistance  in  his  return.    But  the 
Duke  complained  bitterly  of  the  way  in  which  the  Venetians 
had  calumniated  him,  both  with  the  King  and  with  his 
ministers,  and  of  the  unfriendly  attitude  of  the  Cardinal  of 
Rouen.    "  We  have  persevered  in  our  faith  with  his  Majesty, 


*  Diario  Ferrarese,  col.  378. 
357 


DUKES  AND  POETS  IN 

both  before  and  after  the  return  of  tb 
Italy,  as  is  notorious  to  all  Italy.  So 
severe,  if  his  Majesty  perseveres  in  1 
protection  truly  and  sincerely,  as  is  a 
Majesty,  and  not  in  words  only  and  wi 

The  triumph  of  the  Moro  was  brief 
ments  and  a  new  general,  la  Tr^moill 
fresh  h^sart  into  the  royal  army.  At 
Swiss  refused  to  fight  against  their  count 
army,  and,  on  April  lo,  the  hapless  Du 
the  French,  as  he  passed  out  of  the  city  c 
as  a  Swiss.  Sent  as  a  prisoner  to  France 
to  the  King's  presence,  he  expiated  his  i 
that  long  living  death  in  the  castle  of  1 
prison  thus  inclosing  the  thoughts  and 
whom  first  the  boundaries  of  aU  Italy  coul 
Betrayed  to  the  Venetians  and  by 
to  the  French,  the  Cardinal  Ascanio  foi 
prisonment  at  Bourges,  and  was  released 
to  take  part  in  the  Conclave  on  the  death 

Ercole  had  carefully  abstained  from  rend 
assistance  to  Lodovico  in  his  restoration,  ai 
nothing  to  fear  from  his  fall.  Giovanni  Va 
the  King  on  his  victory,  and  assured  him  t 
favoured  and  assisted  him  in  his  affairs  mor 
done  who  had  shared  in  the  gains  [i.e.  the  V 
that  he  had  persuaded  all  those  who  could  it 
not  to  lend  aid  to  the  Lord  Lodovico,  of 
Lodovico  had  himself  publicly  complaine 

^  Istruiione  a  Giovanni  Valla,  March  2, 1500.  Art 
CarUggio  degli  Ambasciaiori — Francia. 
'  Guicciardini,  iv.  5. 

358 


ri. 


\ 


IJJ    THE   CLOSE     OF  THE  QUATTROCENTO 

^ed  that  he  held  Ercole  "  for  his  good  friend,  and  for  a 
*  •  and  excellent  I^ord  ;  '*  but  he  complained  of  the  bearing 
"^^c  Marquis  of  M:ani:iia.^ 

T4^  was  the  year  of  J  -labilee,  and  the  corruption  in  the  Church 

the  Curia  had    ire3-ched  its  height.    The  pilgrims,  who 

^^  ired  to  Rome  for    -the  indulgences,  saw  with  amazement 

^  Borgia  ti:iixm.i>lxing  as   the  conqueror  of  Forli  and 

^^^     and  receiving  t:lxe  Golden  Rose  from  the  hands  of  the 

'   jTrantic  pa-pal    rejoicings  hailed  the  overthrow  of 

*  ^*^  :^ge  of  Siora53-.       In  August,  Lucrezia  Borgia's  second 

^Viand,  *^^  yoiixxg  Alfonso  of  Bisceglie,  was  strangled  in 

1^^^  ^caXi  by  Cesaxe's  orders.    The  scandal  of  the  Pope's 

^.^^  life  ^^    rctrxewed.*     "  The  Pope,"  said  Paolo  Cap- 

P^^      ^j^e  o^  *^^   Venetian  ambassadors,  on  his  return  to 

P^^'        2,  tnontViL   a.fter  young  Alfonso's  murder,  "grows 

^^^^    er  evcty  daty  ;    his  reflections  do  not  last  a  night ;  he 

yoting  ^^  ^^g^  and.  is  of  a  happy  natmre,  and  only  does  what 

vf^^      ^  0^m  advantage  ;  his  whole  thought  is  to  make  his 

is  ^^  great,  and    he  cares  about  nothing  else."  *    Yet 

cbi*      ^cr«  some  that,  with  a  full  knowledge  of  all  that  was 

tb^^  ^gx^  ^^^  though  themselves  in  personal  danger,  came 

iri  P        -^ternal  City,  rather  than  lose  the  indulgence  of  the 


to 


tJie 


.^^tch  oi  Giovanni  Valla,  May  20, 1 500.     Archivio  di  Modena, 

%   l^*^?^iJ^gK  Ambiuciatori — Francia.    In  spite  of  his  aUiance  with 

^g^i^^^^^  Gatktai%9>  had  been  treating  with  both  Maximilian  and 

■     ■  t-m^\^^^*         atfMffm^      «%T*A    \%*%A     aAn4-    \\ia    Vv^f\4'\\^f      n«/v«po*in«    fZ^\T><mera      t-t^ 


jT^-^**^^^  Siorza,  and  had  sent  his  brother,  Giovanni  Gonzaga,  to 

j^/o^^^^  th«  lalter's  army.    Louis  at  first  thought  of  depriving  him 

^^1^^  ^^tuai**^^  making  it  over  to  the  Venetians  in  exchange  for 

o^   ^*^^  »J^^  *^®  ^^*"  ^'  ^^^'  ^^^  ultimately  contented  himself  with 

^^en^*^^  j^  heavy  pecuniary  fine.    See  P^lissier,  op.  cU,,  pp.  103- 115. 

VO*^^*^astor,  iii-  P-  43i.  note  2.      Giulia  Famese  resumed  relations 

•  ^^*     p^^,  who  also  "  favoured  "  one  of  Lucrezia's  damsels. 

^^^^aiione  foia  im  pregadi,  per  Sier  Polo  Capelo,   Sanudo,  Diarii, 

***  359 


DUKES  AND  POETS  W 

Jubilee  though  granted  by  a  Borgi 

betta  of  Urbino,  though  her  House  ^ 

out  by  Cesare  for  destruction,  came 

fitting  visitation  of  the  churches  ore 

Jubilee,"  as  she  herself  puts  it  in  h 

the  Marquis  of   Mantua,   who  ha 

dissuade  her  from  going.^    Under 

Colonna,  she  fulfilled  the  conditions,  ^ 

to  Urbino.    The  alms  of  the  pilgri 

Cesare  Borgia,  for  his  projected 

The  one  papal  action  during  the  ye 

lutdy  unworthy  of  a  Christian  sov 

one  who  claimed  to  be  the  Vicar  of 

of  Peter,  was  the   attempt  to  or 

against  the  Turks — ^who  were  beat 

land.    But  here,  too,  it  is  impossible 

Pope  was  moved,  in  part  at  least,  I 

support  of  the  Venetians  for  the  de 

"  As  I  doubt  not  that  your  n 

knows  well,"  wrote  Giovanni  Bent 

infirmity  has  need  of  a  better  and  i 

and  it  would  be  necessary  that  ou 

pertains  the  government  of  our  ] 

Christ  did,  when  He  said :  For  I  ha\ 

And  this  would  be  more  to  the  pou 

to  disturb  the  poor  lords  of  Roma, 

keeping  this  harassed  Italy  in  so 

some  are  induced  rather  to  desire  tl 

1  Of.  Gian  Francesco's  letter,  of  Man 
Renier,  Mantova  e  Urbino,  p.   105,  and 
from  Assisi,  March  21,  in  Gregorovius, 
20. 

360 


IN     THE  CLOSE  OF  THE   QUATTROCENTO 

than  to  think  of  opposing  them  in  any  way.  But  if  this 
private  passion  be  put  aside,  and  thought  be  taken  for  the 
universal  good  and  for  the  conservation  of  the  Faith  and 
our  Religion,  I  am  certain  that  lords  and  communes  and  all 
men  will  be  found  excellently  disposed  to  do  all  that  shall 
be  needed/'  ^ 

At  the  beghining  of  the  year,  Ercole  had  announced  his 
intention  of  going  in  person  to  Rome  for  the  Jubilee,    "  For 
many    years,"  he  wrote  to  the  Marchesana  Isabella,  ''  we 
have   thought  and  almost  firmly  intended  to  go  to  Rome 
for  tlxis  JubUee,  if  our  Lord  God  in  His  grace  aUowed  us  to 
reach  this  year.      And  so  we  have  decided  to  depart  at  once 
and  to    S^  ^^  a  small  company,  with  the  intention  of 
returning  quickly  to  avoid  the  concourse  of  the  multitude. 
We  hstv^^  wished  to  give  particular  notice  of  this  thing  to 
your  I-.3^dyship,   in  order  that  you  may  know  this  delibera- 
tion of   ours,  and  can  tell  us  if  you  desire  anything  from  us 
in  this    our  voyage.    Do  not  omit  to  pray,  and  to  have 
prayers  offered  up  to  our  Lord  God,  for  our  safety,"  ^    But 
a  fall  from  his  horse  had  delayed  his  departure,  and  subse* 
quent  events— the  Borgian  invasion  of  Romagna  and  the 
1  Letter  of  September  19,  1500.     Dalian,  pp.  192,  193. 
s  Letter  of  January  i,  1500.    The  same  day  he  gave  notice  to  the 
Pope,   to  '^^  various  ambassadors  and  others,  of  his  intention  of 
^oing  immediately  to  Rome,  "  to  satisfy  a  singular  devotion  of  ours, 
and  to  gaii*  ^^  indulgence  and  plenary  remission  of  our  sins."     He 
Jiad    previously,  on  December  29,  been  in  negotiation  with   the 
Cardinal  of  San  Giorgio,  who  was  then  in  Florence,  to  borrow  his 
palace    io   ^°°^®>  the  present  Palazzo  della  CanceUeria,  "  for  ten 
days  at  tlie  longest,  with  the  beds  and  all  the  things  of  the  kitchen. 
VVe  sliall  go  with  few  persons  and  not  more  than  fifty  horses,  because, 
as  we    ^^^^  making  this  journey  for  our  devotion,  we  wish  to  go  as 
pilgrims."     Minute  Ducali  of  December  29,  1499^  and  January  1, 
I  SCO'       Archivio  di  Modena,  Minutario  Crotwlogico. 

361  A  A 


DUKES  AND  POETS 

fate  of  the  Milanese  duchy — indi 
idea. 

Instead,  he  had  solemn  processi 
cities  of  his  duchies  in  March,  to 
upon   Italy   and   the  liberation 
Turks ;  and  he  had  them  repeatec 
good  reasons  known  to  him  and 
to  keep  on  good  terms  with  God, 
put  it.    On  the  latter  occasion, 
place  one  on  every  third  day  in  Fen 
in  front,  with  more  than  four  tho 
white,  each  bearing  a  banner  up 
image  of  Christ.    Then  came  tl 
Bishop  of  Ferrara,  followed  by  th< 
Duke  on  foot,  and,  at  the  last,  Er< 
because  he  was  still  unable  to  \ 
thousand    persons    took    part    ii 
Whitsuntide  a  revivalist  preachei 
from  the  convent  of  the  Angeli,  p 
the  Duomo,  and  exhorted  the  p 
consequence  of    his  eloquence, 
solemnly  proclaimed  from  the  win 
Ragione,   to  forbid   the  keeping 
forbidden  games,  blaspheming  G 
Saints,  openly  or  in  secret,  con 
difficult  to  imagine  that  the  dec: 
effect  in  an  Italian  city  of  that  c 

*  Diario  Ferrarese,  coll.  385,  386  ; 
194*  195-  Tomasino  de'  Bianchl  givej 
procession  in  June  at  Modena,  in  ax 
chronicle,  pp.  269-273. 

*  Diario  Ferrarese,  col.  387. 

362 


IN  THE  CLOSE  OF  THE  QUATTROCENTO 

The  fact  was  that  Ercole  himself  was  at  this  time  in  bad 
healtby  very  anxious  about  all  things,  and  much  concerned 
with  the  afiairs  of  his  soul.  Disappointed  at  the  failure  of 
the  reforms  that  seemed  promised  by  Savonarola,  dis- 
illusioxied  by  the  nonfulfihnent  or  the  method  of  fulfilment 
of  the  Friar's  prophecies,  he  had  thrown  himself  heart  and 
soul  ixito  a  very  remarkable  religious  movement — a  move- 
ment ±<yo  littl®  noticed  by  Church  historians — ^which  may 
be  sai<i   to  have  come  to  a  head  in  this  year. 

Th^  cbi®^  211111  of  this  movement  was  to  fight  the  corrup- 
tion i^    *^^  Church  and  in  human  society,  to  oppose  the 
degrad^^^*^  ^^^  immorality  of  the  Curia,  no  longer  by  the 
'olcat     tirades    of  a  Savonarola,  but  by  a  revival  of  the 
-y.  ^^    St.  Catherine  of  Siena.    More  than  a  hundred  years 
before    ^^^  ^^^  striven  to  heal  the  wounds  of  Italy  ;  she  had 
ttemt>t^  to  unite  the  Powers  of  Christendom  against  the 
T  rk  •  sb^  ^^^  hidden  high  and  low  strip  themselves  of  self- 
f     e    exiter  the  cell  of  self-knowledge ;  she  had  denounced 
hvxtii'^  words  the  corruption  of  the  clergy ;  she  had 
ed  th^  Pop^>  in  Christ's  name,  to  think  of  souls  and  not 
f  cities,    ^^  choose  between  the  Temporal  Power  and  the 
<i5ilvatioti  of  souls.    In  her  words  seemed  to  many  the  very 
medy  ^^^  *^^  malady  of  these  new  times.    And  this  year 
i  Tuhilee  ^^  chosen  by  "  certain  devout  servants  of  God  " 
brit^K  out  her  letters,  as  a  protest  against  the  hideous 
tate    of   things  in  the  Church.    Aldo  Manuzio,  the  pub- 
lisher,   m^uie  himself  their  spokesman,  in  a  letter  dated 
from  Venice,  September  19, 1500,  to  Francesco  Piccolomini, 
the    Cardinal  Archbishop  of  Siena.    "I   pray  you,"   he 
,^^tes,     **  *^  communicate   these   sacred   epistles   to   the 
rtoltoess  of  the  Pope,  in  order  that  he  may  consider  the 
i>istles  sent  to  Pope  Gr^ory  XI  and  Pope  Urban  VI  as 

363 


DUKES  AND  POETS  II 

written  to  his  Holiness.  Moreover 
Lordship  show  those  that  were  seni 
the  Cardinals  of  our  own  time,  in  ore 
by  that  Sacred  Virgin,  inspired  by 
carried  out  for  the  reformation  of  \ 
the  Crusade  may  be  made  against 
viour  promised  this  to  her,  when 
ardent  prayers,  and,  since  it  has  i 
all  means,  because  God  cannot  lie 
But  this  movement  had  a  f ar  n 
tation  than  in  letters  alone.  Whi 
day  crucifying  Christ  anew  in  Roi 
over  Italy,  robed  in  the  black  ai 
Catherine  had  worn,  bearing  in  t 
and  feet  and  side — ^the  wounds  of 
of  them  professed  to  be  in  consi 
with  Catherine  herself,  and  all,  to 
imitated  her  mode  of  life,  had  id 
renew  her  work.  Even  as  God 
sent  holy  men  and  prophets — thus 
little  tract  in  the  publication  o 
doubtedly  concerned  * — "  so,  in  th 
extreme  daily  adversity.  He  woulc 
people  ;  but  now,  for  the  joy  of  t 
the  wicked  and  the  strengthening 

1  Letter  prefixed  to  the  first  Aldine 
tissime  de  Sancta  Catharina  da  Siena, 

2  Spiriiualium  personarum  feminei  6 
a  tract  of  six  leaves  without  paginati< 
name,  but  apparently  printed  in  1501 
letters  of  Ercole  and  others  concerning 
frontispiece  represents  three  nuns  kn< 

364 


these 


IN  THE  CLOSE    OF  THE  QUATTROCENTO 
tempests,  He   ^virondrously  manifests  Himsdf  in  many 


•  "tual>   pious   stnd      religious  persons,  especially  of    the 
^P    inine  sex.    Most:    seasonably  doth  He  now  stretch  forth 
.    jjg^nd,  that  msLix  may  rise  again  out  of  this  ruin  to  sub- 


lime 
Him 


things*  that  all    may  know  God  more  clearly  and  love 
jxiore  ardently,    may  imitate  Him  more  dihgently  and 
more  blessed.      Concerning  which  things  the  most 


become 

-       x^ous  and  serexxe    prince  and  lord,  the  Lord  Hercules, 

ke  of  Ferrara,    l>eareth  witness." 
^r  cole  dilige^'tly    collected  information  from  all  sources 
ernii^S  the  li^ves    these  women  lived  and  the  miracles 
^^       were  said    -to    have  wrought.    Three  were  especially 
^^^^  us.     Colotntea     of    Rieti  hved  m  the  convent  of  the 
*^*  inic^^  ^^^^  ^^  I^erugia,  took  no  apparent  nourishment, 
^^^v^a5  sA^ta^^^  (so  the  Duke  said)  by  the  Blessed  Sacra- 
^^^       ^iractiovisly    conveyed  to  her  by  the  hands  of  an 
^^^^  .  she  had  raised  up  a  dead  child  to  life,  almost  in  the 
-^^^      '  e  ^*  Cesare   Borgia,  and  preached  repentance  (not 
P^^^^  effectually,    we  should  say)  to  the  fierce  BagUoni. 
^^^  A-^dreassi,  of  Mantua,  was  an  older  woman  than 

^^  timers  (sh^  was  bom  in  1449)  and  a  stronger,  more 
^'^^  r>et^^^^^  spirit ;  related  on  her  mother's  side  to  the 
^^  ag^'  she  was  held  in  the  utmost  reverence  by  the 
^^  g^xid  people  of  Mantua,  and  frequently  consulted  by 

i"^^  "M.^-^^^^  ^^^  Isabella.  She  was  in  correspondence 
'tH^  *tx2^y  ^^  ^^  sovereigns  of  Italy,  notably  with  the  Duke 
's^^^  ^  "bino  and  Ercole  himself.  She  had  fed  her  soul  upon 
ot  -3i*tititigs  of  St.  Catherine  and  of  Savonarola,  but  did 
\\^^  ^^^g  the  pohtical  theories  of  the  latter  ;  at  the  Battle 
"J^^  tnovo  all  her  S3mipathies  had  been  with  the  army  of 

T.eagu6»  and  she  professed  to  know  by  revelation  that 
^*^^       uls  of  almost  all  who  fell  fighting  for  the  independence 


DUKES  AND  POETS  II 

of  Italy  against  the  foreign  invad< 
girl  compared  to  these  two,  but 
nected  with  Ferrara,  was  Luda  Br< 
had  probably  heard  in  the  first  int 
I  Niccold  Maria  d*  Este,  the  Bishop  < 

papal  service. 

Lucia  Brocadelli  was  bom  at  Na 
Lucia,  December  13,  1476.  Her  fa 
was  a  child,  was  Treasurer  of  the  Cc 
of  his  brothers  was  attached  to  the 
Datario  to  Alexander  VI.  Fanta! 
her  childhood.  St.  Catherine  he 
cradle ;  Christ  espoused  her  myst 
the  Angels,  practised  strange  au! 
perpetual  chastity.  Then  St.  Ca 
taught  her  to  read  and  write,  bade 
Dominicans.  After  her  father's  d( 
her  to  marry  a  young  Milanese  ge 
lived  in  virginity,  until  at  the  age 

*  Our  chief  authorities  for  the  lives  ai 
are :  Leandro  d^li  Alberti,  La  Vita  t 
(Bobgna,  1521);  Fra  Francesco  da  I 
Osanna  da  MatUava,  written  iinmediat< 
to  Gian  Francesco  Gonzaga  and  Isabella 
1 590)  ;  Girolamo  da  Monte  Oliveto,  Li 
della  Beata  Osanna  da  Mantava,  includii 
and  her  letters  to  the  writer  (second  edit 
Marcianese,  NarraHone  della  Nascita^  V 
da  Nami  (Ferrara,  1616) ;  Domenico  1 
(Rome,  171 1)  ;  and  the  more  recent  w< 
Gandini,  Sulla  venuta  in  Ferrara  dellc 
and  Lucrezia  Borgia  nell*  imminenza 
d*  Este,  I  hope,  on  another  occasion, 
of  the  Beata  Osanna. 

366 


IN  THE  CLOSE  OF  THE  QUATTROCENTO 

it  bii^  ^^^  took  tiio  habit  of  St.  Dominic  in  her  mother's 

y^se-'-'to  the  fury     of  her  husband,  who  is  said  to  have 

4-f emP*^  to  bum.    down  the  convent  where  her  confessor 

^,     J      The  next  yos-ir  she  went  to  Rome,  to  the  monasterj^ 


in 


jjjch  St.  Catherirxe  had  died  in  the  Via  Santa  Chiara, 


^  a  basrelief    ixx    the  chapel  (originally  St.  Catherine's 
11^    still  records     Ixer  presence.    In  January,   1496,   the 
^-ij  of  the  IZ>oi:rxiixicans — that  same  Frate  Giovacchino 
rria»i  who,  a.     lit^tle  later,  was  compelled  by  the  Pope 
lay  ^^^  part    of    Savonarola's  executioner — sent  her  to 
♦  rbo,  ^^  direot:     at  house  of  Dominican  tertiaries  there, 
on  ttve  xiiglxi:  of  February  24,  the  second  Thursday 
-     T  ent,  w^^  l>et:ween  Suora  Diambra,  the  Prioress,  and 
^^  l^eonarda.       (both    of  whom  we  shall  meet  again 

^^^    ntly^  ^^  cVioir    at  Matins,  she  received  the  Stigmata. 
P^       ^j^^  oi  die  agony  they  gave  her,  the  wounds  remained 
I^  .  ; Y>le  ^^^^  Passion  Week,  when  they  became  visible  and 
^^        ^^tt^^y-     Her  mother.  Madonna  Gentilina,  and  Fra 
^:*io  d^  Tivoli,  her  former  confessor,  were  summoned 
^*     -  ^  cotiV^^^>  as  the  nuns  beUeved  she  was  dying. 
^^       tl^oli^  ^^d  Protestants  are  nowadays  agreed  that  the 
tiot^  ^^  ^^^  Stigmata  is  a  question  to  be  dealt  with  by 
^^^  V^ycbologist   and  the  physician,  rather  than  by  the 
^    ^    \a&^  ^^^  hagiologist.    But  it  was  naturally  not  so 
'^^  The  matter  seemed  a  new  manifestation  of  the 

tlx^^'    ^    of    Christ's  Passion.    *' These    things,"    writes 
f^^     ^^    **are  shown  by  the  Supreme  Craftsman  in  the 
^^     .    ^  q{  His  servants  to  confirm  and  strengthen  our  Faith, 
^^^^^^^  to  remove  the  increduUty  of  impious  men  and  hard  of 
^^^    -^"^    The  Pope  sent  his  physician,  Berardo  da  Re- 
ttcr  of  Blarch  4, 1 500,  in  the  Spiritualium  personarum  facia  ad- 
^       ofif  dig^^»  ^°^ '"  P**^*  published  by  Ponsi,  ap.  ciL ,  pp.  205-207 . 
^*^^'  367 


DUKES  AND  POETS  J 

canati,  with  a  Franciscan  bishop  ai 
of  the  Sacred  Palace,  to  investig 
report,  even  as  he  had  personally 
Colomba ;  but  these  things  impres 
the  mysterious  warnings  were  to  do 
A  little  later,  the  local  Father  Inqi 
a  prolonged  examination,  to  which 
"  St.  Catherine  of  Siena  by  her  praj 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  that  the  Stigr 
and  palpable  in  me,  as  a  pledge  and 
mata  of  St.  Catherine  herself." 

Her  life  at  Viterbo  seemed  to  becc 
tery.^  Before  the  Crucifix  and  at  Ma 
ecstasies,  in  which  she  cried,  Fuoco, 
Her  face  appeared  Uke  that  of  a  ser 
grew  stiff  and  rigid  as  a  statue.  Sh( 
and  suffered  His  Passion,  and  reveaL 
celestial  mysteries,  such  that  the  nuns 
in  which  to  record  them.  All  these  thi 
were  collected  a  little  later  at  Ercole's 
"beyond  measure  desirous  to  hear  t 
mundane  and  well-nigh  celestial  "—by  I 
Maria  d*  Este,  who  was  then  filling  the 
of  the  Patrimony.  "  I  send  them  to  yo 
Lordship,**  writes  Niccold  Maria,  "in  o 
read  so  many  miraculous  actions,  you  m 
day  more  the  love  and  benevolence  whicl 
aforesaid  Suora  Lucia  ;  who  seemeth  to  n 

^  Could  she  have  been  the  nun  in  that  town  wl 
apotheosis  of  Fra  Girolamo  and  his  fellow-mart^ 
there  is  no  hint  of  anything  like  the  column  to 
refers  (Diario  Ferrarese,  col.  353). 

368 


IN  THE  CLOSE  OF  THE  QUATTROCENTO 
•    fragile  2md  conrxip'tible  world  of  ours,  but  of  the  celestial 
^  d  i^^*  Wessed   Hierarchies."  * 

t7  ill  of  his  desire    "to  make  Ferrara  a  kind  of  centre  of 

ivious  ^^^  "^    Italy,   Ercole    in  the  summer  of  1497 — 

^  bis  rupture    -^^ritih  Savonarola — ^invited  Lucia  to  his 

promising  to    l>ixild  for  her  a  convent  of  nuns  of  her 

Order.    Lncis.     accepted  with  alacrity ;  her  mother, 

was  prof \ise  in  her  gratitude  to  the  Duke   for 


city. 


r^entili^^' 

'ncL  **  ^^  sucIl  great  love  upon  my  own  flesh  and  blood."  * 

4-  the  tiutis  and    tixe  authorities  of  Viterbo  flatly  refused 

1  t  bcr  6^-     C>n.e    of  her  uncles,  Antonio  Mei,  went  to 

^^.      bo  to  ietcH   Ixer,  on  the  pretext  that  her  mother  was 

.       -a  ^^^  overlxeard  their  conversation  and  raised  the 

dy*^^  ^pon  lai^>  ^with  the  result  that  the  worthy  man  was 

toWn         ^^  sent:    al>out  his  business.    Before  he  went,  he 

a^^    ^  v^tb  t\ie  confessor,  Fra  Martino,  that  Lucia  should 

a^^  -    tie  every  day  to  visit  for  her  devotions  the  sanctuary 

^^^\^  lyladonna   della  Quercia,  outside  Viterbo.     But  an 

^*  -t  d^ri^S  tlie  winter  by  Alessandro  da  Fiorano,  captain 

^*  pijke's   bcUestrieriy  to  carry  her  off  on  the  occasion  of 

^^  ^     I  tb^^  visits,  failed.    The  people  shut  the  gates  in  her 

o^^      ^^d  iitterly  refused  to  let  her  pass  out  to  keep  the 

f  ac^»      ^^giit  with  Alessandro,  of  which  they  appear  to  have 


^PP^  ^^j^e  inkling  from  Fra  Martmo. 
b^^L  ^Qtigbout  the  greater  part  of  1498,  the  people  of  Viterbo 
-|7  ^cole's  agents  struggled  together  in  the  Papal  Court 
a-^^  ^.v^e  possession  of  Lucia.  The  General  of  the  Domini- 
40^  ^^^  ^as  naturally  anxious  to  gratify  so  eminent 

c^^^*    enerous  a  benefactor  of  his  Order,  was  entirely  on 

oi  March  5, 1503,  from  Viterbo. 


In  Giacomo  Marcianese, 


^fione,  pp.  104,  J05- 
^^^r  riA\s{\,SuUaveniaa in  Ferrara deUaBeataSuof  Lucia,  Letter  2. 

369 


DUKES  AND  POKTS   II 

Ercole*s  side ;  Alessandro    da    Fio 
money  lavishly  in  all  directions,  a 
action  rather  than  a  diplomatist, 
"  I  am  not  a  chancellor  nor  an  am 
Ercole,  "  but  I  am  a  very  faithful 
lence  and  desirous  of  doing  always 
industry  the  thing  that  you  want, 
business,  since  your  most  illustrious  I 
to  understand  how  much  you  have  i 
The  Cardinal  Ippolito  and  Monsignor  '. 
their  influence  with  the  Pope  to  indue 
briefs  to  Viterbo,  threatening  excomn 
unless  Lucia  was  sent  to  Rome.    A  o 
da  Modena,  also  a  Dominican,  push 
affair,  presented  himself  to  the  General  < 
Ercole's  permission  or  knowledge)  as  t 
and  tried  to  work  a  little  scheme  of  his 
Lucia  from  Viterbo  and  bringing  her  to 
permission  of  the  Father  Inquisitor  of 
gave  the  over-zealous  friar  a  spell  in  t 
Castle  for  his  trouble,  until  he  was  "  mo 
molto  "   (as  Monsignor  Felino  put  it), 
him  from  Ferrara.^ 

The  whole  thing,  in  fact,  grew  excee 
Ercole  himself  was  perfectly  sincere  and 
his  devotion  to  one  whom  he  believed 
favoured  by  God  and  to  bear  in  her  b( 
Christ's  Passion.  Alessandro  da  Fioranc 
honest  fellow,  bent  on  pleasing  his  master, 
with  the  exception  of  poor  Luda,  evident! 

*  Gandini,  op.  cit.  Letter  9. 

*  Gandini,  op.  du^  pp.  2S,  27,  i 

370 


IN  THE   CLOSE  OF  THE  QUATTROCENTO 

what  they  can  for  themselves  out  of  the  situation. 
Even  Frate  Martino,  whose  own  conduct  had  been  rather 
dubious,  professed  to  be  shocked  at  the  sums  of  money 
that  Lucia's  unde  Antonio  was  demanding :  '*  I  fear/'  he 
said,  ^^  that,  if  Antonio  makes  merchandise  of  this  holy  thing, 
we  shall  lose  the  credit  in  Heaven  and  on  earth."  *  The 
people  ^^  Viterbo  hunted  Antonio  and  Gentilina  out  of 
the  place. 

Lucia  appears  to  have  left  the  convent,  and  to  be  very 
lonely  ^^^  niiserable,  longing  for  Ferrara  as  a  place  of  rest 
and  peace.     "  I  have  no  consolation,  neither  of  soul  nor  of 
l^y,"    she  writes  to  her  uncle,  "and  cannot  stay  any 
longer   i^  ^^^  Hell.    I  pray  you  again  to  do  all  you  can  to 
take    J^^  away."    And  to  Ercole  himself  she  wrote,  some- 
what toitterly,  complaining  that  they  had  taken  her  mother 
from  y^^^*  ^^^  ^^^^  ^*  seemed  more  impossible  than  ever  for 
her  to  g^*  away  from  Viterbo.    "  My  Lord  and  Father,  I 
have    ^^  other  hope  on  earth  than  your  most  illustrious 
Lordship*     You  ask  me  to  pray  for  you.    My  Lord  and 
Father,    y^^  know  that  I  continually  pray  to  that  sweet 
Testis  that  He  may  preserve  you  in  this  mortal  world  with 
health   ^*  ^^  ^^^  body."*    Her  sadness  and  perplexity 
were,   perhaps,  increased  by  the  fact  that  Suora  Colomba 
of  Rieti — ^whom  she  venerated  as  a  mother — ^had  sent  her 
confessor  from  Perugia  to  advise  her  not  to  go,  but  "  to 
console  w^  her  presence  that  city  in  which  she  had  received 
so  inati^^^*  and  excellent  a  gift."  *    The  uncle,  Antonio, 
wrote  to  assure  the  Duke  that  Lucia  had  told  him  that  she 
was  longing  to  come  and  stay  with  his  Lordship,  "  and  she 

1   Oa-**^*'^^'  ^-  ^''•.  Letter  48  (irom  Felino  Sandeo  to  the  Duke). 
9    C^&Xi^^^f  op'  cit..  Letters  36  and  37. 
»   So  at  l«^t  Ponsi,  op.  cii.,  p.  106. 


DUKES  AND  POETS  IN  FEj 

I 

told  me  that,  when  she  had  spoken  with  { 
the  most  contented  religious  that  thel 
earth."  * 

Finally,  Monsignor  Felino  went  secretl 
bought  the  Podest4  of  the  town,  with  th 
the  thing  succeeded,  the  Duke  would  give 
lucrative  and  honourable  position  in  I 
them  and  Gentilina  and  the  uncle,  they 
a  certain  day  Lucia  should  be  carried  ou 
mule,  hidden  in  a  basket  of  linen.    On  A 
plot  succeeded,  and  Lucia  was  brought  safe 
house  at  Nami,  whence  Alessandro  da  Fioi 
conducted  her  through  the  states  of  the 
to  Ferrara.    She  arrived  at  Ferrara  on 
mother  Gentilina,  a  young  cousin  (Suora  C 
Order,  who  died  shortly  after),  and  Fra  Cris 
who  had  succeeded  Fra  Martino  as  her  co 

Ercole  himself  came  out  to  meet  Luci: 
make  enough  of  her.  He  declared  that  ] 
the  wonderful  things  that  he  found  in  her 
report,  and  wrote  enthusiastic  letters  of 
one  concerned.  Fra  Timoteo  turned  u 
midst  of  all  these  rejoicings,  very  aiLxio 
and  bringing  a  letter  from  Monsignor  Fe] 
haves  himself  like  a  good  religious,"  said  th 
not  lack  favour  from  us."  Seeing  that  Li 
tressed  and  evidently  uneasy  in  her  cc 
with  almost  womanly  tact  and  considerat 
General  of  the  Dominicans :  "  In  order  i 
may  stay  here  with  her  mind  at  rest  and  wit 

^    Gandini,  op.  cit..  Letter  4^ 
372 


IN  THE  CLOSE   OF  THE  QUATTROCENTO 

ore  pJ^y  y^^^  most:    reverend  Lordship  to  be  good  enough 

yj^iite  her  a  kind  letter  to  praise  her  for  coming  here,  and 

tell  her  that  your  IL^rdship  is  very  pleased  that  she  has 

016,  2tnd  that  sixe    oould  not  have  done  better.    Such  a 

1  iter  viriU  be  a  grGSLt,  comfort  to  her  and  a  singular  pleasure 

us."   He  cordially  invited  Fra  Martino  to  Ferrara,  to  take 

his  old  duties    ol    oonfessor  to  the  Suora,  and  obtained 

^toti^  the  General  t:lxa.t:  he  should  be  relieved  of  the  office  of 

rior  oi  the  convexii:   at  FoUgno  for  this  purpose.     We 

^  ay»  ^  *^^'  tia^axci  a  guess  that  the  ordinary  clergy  of 

^  city  ^^^^  l^ave   found  Lucia  a  terribly  difficult  peni- 

t  nU  i^^  ^^^^^  E^rcole  assuring  the  General  that  he  is  much 

aifi'ed  by  ^^^  *^a.Ttino,  and  that  "  his  coming  was  more 

^  necessary.''  ^        There  was  nothing  that  the    Duke 

xjUdt^^^^^^^  done  for  Lucia,  to  ensure  her  happiness  under 

^?    protection,  or  for  the  Dominicans,  to  show  his  gratitude 

*^^^tbei^  *^^  l:iavii:ig   given  this  jewel  of  their  Order  into 

^^    Viands-    He  Yiad,  indeed,  fallen  completely  under  their 

^"Iritual  guidance. 

^^  **  I   cong^^^ate  your  most  illustrious  Lordship  much,'* 

^e   ^^  ^^i^aventura  da  Como,  one  of  the  numerous 

^    tli*^^  ^*  ^^  Order  who  seem  to  have  had  a  share  in  the 

^^  iiii^^^^^*  ^^  ^^  conscience,  "  and  I  have  the  greatest 

^  ^jsuf  e  tl^at  you  have  been  given  as  confessor  and  spiritual 

P  tli^^  ^^  ^^^^  ^^^  *^  venerable  father  Frate  Giovanni  da 

5^  toia»  *  ^sister  in  theology,  a  man  most  religious  and  of 

^  perfection ;  the  more  your  most  excellent  Lordship 

^        ^i^iences  his  devotion  and  goodness  together  with  the 

^    ^icicncy  of  his  learning,  I  am  certain  that  your  Lordship 

^   •\1  be  so  much  the  more  consoled  thereat.    Further,  I 

.  ^^  greatly  that  the  Divine  Goodness  hath  sent  thither 

1  Gandini,  op,  cit.,  Letters  52,  53,  54,  60. 

373 


DUKES  AND  POETS  IN  FERRARA 

to  Ferrara  that  most  devout  handmaid  of  His,  Suora 
Lucia,  of  whom  I  hear  .stupendous  things.  It  would  be  a 
great  happiness  to  me  to  be  able  to  come  so  far  to  see  this 
miraculous  thing,  and  I  assure  your  most  illustrious  Lord- 
ship that  this  is  a  great  argument  for  our  faith,  because  it 
is  not  possible  by  human  means  to  preserve  those  wounds 
in  the  state  in  which  they  are.  May  the  sweet  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  ever  be  praised,  Who  has  deigned  for  your  very  great 
consolation  to  lead  thither  this  His  humble  spouse."  ^ 

Ercole  lost  no  time.  On  June  2, 1499,  less  than  a  month 
after  Lucia's  arrival,  he  laid  the  first  stone  of  the  monastery 
he  had  promised  to  build  for  her.  It  was  situated  near  the 
Dominican  convent  of  the  AngeU,  more  to  the  east  of  the 
Certosa,  but  not  a  stone  of  it  remains  to-day.'  In  the 
meanwhile,  he  found  her  a  suitable  house,  in  which  she 
received  a  first  band  of  young  Ferrarese  girls  to  train  in 
the  footsteps  of  St.  Catherine — but,  within  a  few  days,  the 
majority  of  them  left,  finding  her  rule  too  hard.  We  have 
some  indications,  indeed,  that  Lucia  was  lacking  in  the 
sweetness  of  disposition,  in  the  lovable  and  winning  nature 
that  was  so  conspicuous  in  the  character  of  her  great 
Sienese  prototype.  But  she  beUeved  herself  in  direct 
spiritual  intercourse  with  her,  and  went  unshaken  on  her 
way.  One  evening,  as  she  watched  the  progress  of  the 
building,  St.  Catherine  appeared  to  her  and  led  her  round 
the  whole,  blessing  every  room,  the  two  singing  together 
Savonarola's  favourite  hymn,  Ave  ntaris  Stella ;  and  Lucia 
imagined  that,  when  the  Saint  left,  she  gave  her  a  rod  in 
token  of  command  and  government.  Another  time,  she 
saw  her  hastening  along  a  path  paved  with  thorns,  and  caB- 

^  Gandini,  op.  cit..  Letter  56  (dated  Piacenza,  July  3»  M99)- 
*  See  below,  Chapter  xii. 

374 


IN   THE  CLOSE  OF  THE  QUATTROCENTO 

ing-  iier  to  follow.  And  yet  again,  the  Madonna  and  Angels 
seemed  to  her  ecstatic  gaze  to  take  possession  of  the  place. 
In  consequence  of  these  visions,  the  convent  was  dedicated 
to  St-  Catherine,  its  church  retaining  the  original  title  of 
the   A^nniuxziata. 

Lucia,  communicated  all  these  visions  to  Ercole,  to  whom 
they  naestn^t  much.  He  passed  hours  in  mystical  conversa- 
tion with  her  ;  heaped  favours  of  all  kinds  upon  her.  Not 
only  ciid  h^e  diligently  collect  all  the  evidence  of  her  past 
life,  for  the  confusion  of  the  incredulous,  but  he  himself — 
shortly  stf  ter  her  coming  and  while  the  building  of  the 
convent  -wsts  in  progress — wrote  the  long  letter  in  her  honour 
which    hsLS    heen  already  mentioned. 

Xhe    letter   is  dated  from  Ferrara,  March  4,  1500,  and 

ninst  l>e  regarded  as  another  of  the  strange  fruits  in  which 

^^3^^    arrxat^ing  Jubilee  of  Pope  Alexander  was  so  prolific. 

After   desorihing  at  length  Lucia's  condition,  her  sufferings 

from    these  wounds  and  her  holy  life,  Ercole  goes  on  to 

relate,    **  *<^^  *^^  devotion  of  the  faithful  of  Christ  and  the 

confirm3,tion  of  the  good,**  the  things  that  he  has  heard 

from.     Ixis    messengers  and  witnesses  concerning  a  certain 

g,^^^j-a^    Steffana,  a  nun  of  the  same  Order  in  Crema,  who 

j^3^3   sirrxilar  revelations  and  ecstasies,  and  who  on  Fridays 

end^i^^s     the  whole  of  the  Passion  in  her  body,  stage  by 

^±^<^G^    from  the  Flagellation  to  the  Deposition  from  the 

Oross.       He  then  touches  more  slightly  upon  the  miraculous 

^^3^5^^xnximons  of  Suora  Colomba  at  Perugia  and  the  sanctity 

^3-£     SxLora  Osanna  at  Mantua:  "And  in  this  our  city  of 

"Fex^raxa,"  he  concludes,  "  there  are  many  other  nuns  of  the 

s;s^3xve  Order,  who  are  often  rapt  in  ecstasy  by  the  Divine 

S-pirit  and  are  redolent  of  sanctity ;  as  also  we  have  heard 

ot  Tuany  in  many  other  places  in  Italy,  who,  inspired  by 

375 


DUKES  AND  POETS  IN  FERRARA 

the  God  of  Heaven,  bear  witness  to  us  that  this  our  Catholic 
Faith  is  trae,  and  that  the  Holy  Roman  Church  is  the 
Mother  of  the  Faith,  and  to  be  followed  in  all  things  that 
pertain  to  salvation  and  good  morals."  *  Clearly,  it  is  a 
tacit  protest  against  the  corruption  of  the  Curia,  in  the 
same  spirit  as  the  Venetian  publisher's  letter  dedicating 
the  Epistles  of  St.  Catherine  to  the  Cardinal  of  Siena. 

Pope  Alexander  took  Uttle  heed  of  all  this.  Had  Lucia 
or  Colomba  been  possessed  of  Catherine's  Uterary  gifts, 
and  written  letters  touching  him  personally  to  the  quick, 
or  bidding  him  renounce  the  temporal  power  for  the  salva- 
tion of  souls,  it  would  have  been  another  thing.  Osanna, 
indeed,  the  only  one  of  the  group  who  appears  to  have  been 
a  really  strong  spirit,  prophesied  the  downfall  of  Cesare 
Borgia  and  the  speedy  death  of  the  Pope  himself,  and  had 
such  a  fearful  vision  of  the  damnation  of  the  latter  and 
his  Cardinals,  povere  anime,  unless  they  changed  their  works, 
that  she  made  the  blood  of  her  friends  run  cold  with  terror 
when  she  related  it.  But  she  kept  very  quiet  at  Mantua, 
and  probably  reserved  these  revelations  for  the  sympathetic 
ears  of  such  choice  spirits  as  the  Duchess  Elisabetta  of 
Urbino  and  her  own  spiritual  son,  Fra  Girolamo  of  Monte 
01iveto,who  has  recorded  them  for  us."  As  it  was.  Pope 
Alexander  saw  no  danger  in  the  movement. 

1  This  letter  is  printed  in  full  in  the  Spirttualium  personarum  facia 
admiratione  digna,  mutilated  and  abbreviated  in  Ponsi  and  elsewhere. 
Certain  persons  still  refusing  to  credit  his  report,  Ercole  wrote 
another  letter  to  the  consuls  of  Nuremberg  on  January  23,  i50i> 
in  a  similar  strain^  urging  them  to  force  those  who  had 
slandered  Lucia  to  retract  what  they  had  said.  It  is  printed  with 
the  former  one  in  the  tract  quoted,  as  also  by  Giacomo  Marcianese 
and  Pdnsi. 

'  Libretto  delta  Vita  et  Transito  delta  Beata  Osanna,  pp.  50V.  5I)  97 

376 


XJSr   THE  CLOSE  OF  THE  QUATTROCENTO 

The  Duke  had  interested  Isabella  in  his  mystical  desires, 
but  dici  not  succeed  in  inducing  his  favourite  daughter 
either  to  ga  to  Rome  for  the  Jubilee  or  to  bring  Osanna  to 
Ferrara.  In  a  curious  reply  to  a  letter  in  which  Ercole 
ha,cl  exhorted  her  to  make  the  journey  to  the  Eternal  City, 
Isa^bella,  pleads  that  she  finds  that  it  would  cost  her  not 
less  thaxi  a.  thousand  or  eight  hundred  ducats,  doing  it  as 
cheaply  as  possible,  and  she  is  too  heavily  in  debt  to  under- 
take it.  His  Excellence  and  God  will,  therefore,  hold  her 
excused^  and  the  Pope  is  so  generous  with  his  indulgences 
that  she  Ixopes  that,  in  the  coming  Lent,  he  will  grant  her 
the  complete  absolution  through  her  ordinary  confessor, 
ivherehy,  adds  the  practical  and  economical  Marchesana, 
**  I   shall    gain  the  same  merit  with  less  expense  "  :— 

"If  I  had  come,  I  would  have  done  everything  to  bring 
the  venerable  Suora  Osanna.  I  have  talked  with  her  about 
it,  and  she  says  that,  to  visit  the  venerable  Suora  Lucia 
said,  do  a  thing  pleasing  to  your  Excellence  and  to  me,  she 
would  ncxake  every  effort ;  albeit  unwillingly,  because  several 
years  ago  she  resolved  and  made  a  vow  not  to  leave  Mantua, 
it  seeming  to  her  (to  use  her  own  words)  that  she  is  such  a 
monmftxl  person  that  she  ought  not  to  go  about.  Never- 
i:heless  if  I  had  come,  in  obedience  to  the  summons  of  your 
Excellence,  I  should  have  persuaded  her  and  brought 
her."  ^ 

••  <3l3L   Ixow  many  things  did  she  prophesy  to  me  concerning  Italy  ; 

SLnd  «»peciaUy  of  the  Duke  Valentino  I  When  he  was  in  his  greatest 

st:a^et  and  prosperity  in  the  Marches,  she  said  to  me  these  very  words  : 

•  Tl^o  lordship  of  the  Duke  Valentino  is  a  fire  of  straw  that  soon 

X>a^aes  ;  so  wiU  be  his  State ;  it  wiU  soon  be  dispersed,  and  the  Pope 

^limaLll  remain  short  while  upon  the  earth.' " 

^    X-ctterof  November  27, 1500.    Archivio  di  Modena,  CanceUeria 
-I>vkoa\e,  Lettere  di  Isabella  d'  Este  Gonzaga,    A  passage  from  this 

377  BB 


DUKES  AND  POETS  IN  FERRARA 

In  the  meanwhile,  the  new  convent  was  rapidly  approach- 
ing completion.  "  Since  we  have  in  great  veneration  the 
glorious  St.  Catherine  of  Siena,"  wrote  Ercole  on  April  7, 
1501,  to  the  Cardinal  of  Modena,  Giovanni  Battista  Ferrari, 
then  filling  the  oifice  of  Datario  at  the  Papal  Court,  "whom 
among  aU  the  Saints  we  hold  for  our  special  advocate,  we 
have  decided  to  dedicate  and  entitle  to  her  a  monaster)^ 
which  we  are  having  newly  built  in  this  our  city,  not  very 
far  from  the  monastery  of  Santa  Maria  degli  Angdi  of  the 
Friars  Preachers  of  the  Observance;  and  this  monastery, 
with  a  certain  endowment,  we  wish  to  consign  to  the  vener- 
able sisters  of  the  third  habit  of  St.  Dominic,  as  to  those 
who  are  the  daughters  and  imitators  of  the  said  St.  Cathe- 
rine.*' Hearing  that  the  authority  of  the  Pope  is  necessarj, 
he  asks  the  Cardinal  to  consult  with  the  vicar  of  the  Order 
and  arrange  the  matter  with  his  Holiness.  He  explains  that 
these  sisters  are  to  have  the  rules  and  privileges  of  the 
"  cloistered  "  nuns  of  St.  Dominic,  but  that,  if  "  the  vener- 
able Suora  Lucia  da  Nami,  who  is  to  be  the  guide  and  ruler 
of  the  said  sisters  and  for  whose  sake  we  are  so  much  the 


letter  is  quoted  by  Bertoni,  op.  dt.,  p.  207.  For  the  full  text,  see 
Appendix  II.  of  present  work,  document  22.  Although  Osansa 
never  met  Lucia,  she  refers  to  her  once  in  her  coUoquies  with  Fra 
Gurolamo  of  Monte  Olive  to  (concerning  the  wound  in  her  side),  and 
once  incidentally  in  a  letter  to  him  {Libretto  delta  Vita  et  TransUo 
delta  Beata  Osanna,  pp.  78V,  122).  On  Whitsunday  of  this  year, 
1500,  there  had  arrived  in  Ferrara  "  a  live  saintly  nun,  named  Suora 
Colomba,  of  whom  it  was  said  that  every  day  she  received  Com- 
munion from  an  Angel  and  that  she  lived  on  this  Communion  alone." 
The  Duke  lodged  her  in  the  house  where  Lucia  was,  until  the  monas- 
tery was  ready  (Diario  Ferrarese,  col.  387).  This  Cobmba  must 
have  been  an  imitator  and  namesake  of  the  more  famous  Cobmba 
of  Rieti,  who  certainly  did  not  leave  Perugia. 

378 


IN    THE  CLOSE  OF  THE  QUATTROCENTO 

more  g^Ia^dly  having  the  said  building  built,"  wishes  it  to 
l>e  so,  Uiey  are  to  be  allowed  sometimes  to  go  out  of  the 
convent,  under  certain  conditions  and  restrictions,  "  in 
order  to  retain  in  some  part  the  custom  and  way  of  their 
Mother,  St.  Catherine  of  Siena, who  was  of  the  same  Order 
with    this   liberty."* 

The    nnatter  was  soon  settled.    The  Pope,  by  a  Bull  of 

May    29    of    the  same  year,  gave  the  Duke  leave  to  do  all 

that    he    -wished,  and  conferred  various  privileges  and  an 

indefinite     chief  authority  (even  over  the  prioress)  upon 

«*  our   beloved  daughter  in  Christ,  Lucia  da  Nami,  sister  of 

the  said   third  Order,  who  (as  it  is  asserted)  devotes  herself 

as  far  as    she  can  to  following  the  footsteps  of  the  Blessed 

Catherine."  *     On  August  5,  Lucia  made  her  solemn  entry 

into  the    xxe^v  convent,  and  Ercole  naturally  made  a  great 

function    of  the  event  and  formally  consigned  the  keys  to 

her  charge-      He  heaped  favours  of  all  kinds  upon  her,  great 

and    small.        The  convent  was  richly  endowed,  and  he 

exempted  her  from  giving  any  account  to  the  ducal  Camera 

of  virhat   she  received  from  him.    We  have  curious  records 

of  r>ain.ters  set  to  work  for  her  at  his  expense,  of  religious 

boolcs    giv^^  *o  her  from  the  ducal  library.'    He  sought 

ont  raxe   relics  of  Dominican  martyrs,  to  comfort  her  when 

she     ^was    ill-    Her  slightest  wish  to  him  was  law.    He 

^j-^or-ed   that  peculiar  honours  and  respect  should  be  paid 

^^3  h.er"  and  to  her  confessors  by  all  his  subjects.    The  cloths  in 

^^^i^l^olx  her  hands  and  feet  were  wrapped  on  the  days  upon 

1.     Ciaxidini,  Luctezia  Borgia,  Document  i. 
a     In.  "Ponsi,  op.  cit.,  pp.  227,  228. 

»     C^andini,  op.  $it.,  pp.  7,  8  ;  Bertoni,  op.  c»7.,pp.  206,  237.     The 

-j:>^^^«-«   gave  her  from  his  library  a  Bible  in  the  vernacular.     For 

^txe   pictorial  decorations  of  her  convent,  see  below,  in  Chapter  xii. 

379 


I 


DUKES  AND  POETS  IN  FERRARA 

which  the  blood  gushed  out  anew,  Wednesdays  and  Fridays 
and  all  the  feasts  consecrated  to  the  Passion,  were  to  him 
sacred  objects,  endowed  with  rare  healing  powers.  ^ 

Nevertheless,  the  new  institution  was  not  a  complete 
success.  Lucia  was  too  young  for  the  responsibility  thrust 
upon  her,  and  it  was  difficult  to  get  women  of  the  kind  the 
Duke  wanted  to  subject  themselves  to  her  rule.  Her 
mother,  Gentilina,  had  returned  to  her  own  home  at  Narni. 
Not  content  with  transferring  nuns  from  other  convents 
in  Ferrara,  Ercole  acceded  to  Lucia's  ardent  desire  and 
decided  to  obtain  a  number  of  her  former  friends  and 
associates  from  Umbria,  to  place  them  under  her  in 
Santa  Caterina.    This,  however,  was  easier  said  than  done. 

In  May,  1501,  before  the  place  was  finished,  Ercole  sent 
Bartolommeo  Bresciano,  the  messenger  of  the  ducal  chan- 
cellors, to  Nami  and  Viterbo  for  the  purpose.  The  mission 
was  unsuccessful.  At  Nami,  the  fathers  of  Tomasa  an(i 
Beatrice,  two  girls  (cousins)  whom  Lucia  particularlj 
wanted  to  have,  used  male  parole.  "  We  should  like  tc 
see,**  said  they,  "  who  will  take  away  our  daughters  bj 
force."  They  received  Bresciano  courteously  enough,  anc 
let  him  talk  with  Beatrice  for  an  hour.  He  reported  tc 
Ercole  that  she  seemed  una  santarella  and  evidently  love( 
Lucia  cordially  ;  but,  aU  the  same,  he  could  not  get  eithe 
her  or  her  cousin  to  come,  Lucia's  relations,  however 
sent  grateful  messages  to  his  Excellence,  and  offered  him 
at  his  need,  fifty  armed  men  at  their  own  expenses ;  Gen 
tilina  and  two  nuns  with  her  would  be  most  happy  to  come 
At  Viterbo  the  nims  wept  together  when  they  rememberec 

*  Giacomo  Marcianese,  passim.  She  was  said  to  have  healed  Dot 
Alfonso  in  a  dangerous  illness  by  one  of  these  cloths. 

380 


IN  THE  CLOSE  OF  THE  QUATTROCENTO 

±lie  psLst,  ajid  Diambra,  the  Prioress,  told  Bresciano  of  many 
good  works  that  Lucia  had  done ;  but  the  Prior  of  the 
I>oixiixiica,iis  absolutely  refused  to  let  him  have  the  four 
nuns  that  he  wanted.  "  It  is  quite  enough  for  his  Excel- 
lence,** quoth  this  very  reverend  father,  "to  have  robbed 
us  of  Suora  Lucia,  which  hath  been  a  great  loss  to  this  city 
of  Viterbo."  ^ 

Xhe  convent  being  finished,  Ercole  returned  to  the  charge. 
Xliis  time,  however,  "  for  our  complete  satisfaction  and  the 
j>erf  ect   contentment  of  Suora  Lucia,"  as  his  Excellence  put 
it,  at   least  eight  women  were  required — two  from  Nami  and 
six    f  roncx     Viterbo,  including  Diambra  and  Leonarda,  the 
two  ivlio  txsid  been  with  Lucia  at  the  moment  of  her  reception 
of  the  Stigmata.    Bartolommeo  Bresciano  was  sent  post- 
haste  to    Rome  at  the  end  of  September,  **  in  the  name  of 
Ood    an.ci    vrith  the  aid  of  the  glorious  Saint  Catherine  of 
Siena,**    l>earing  a  letter  from  Ercole  to  a  lady  remarkably 
.^^ijjij^e     Saint  Catherine,  but  in  whose  assistance  he  had 
reason    to   place  unbounded  confidence  at  that  moment — 
Lucrezist    Borgia. 


*    C>ajx<ii»^*    op.    cit..  Documents  2  and    3, 
^jairtoloxxicaeo  Bresciano  to  the  Duke. 


being    letters    from 


381 


Chapter  XI 
THE  COMING  OF  MADONNA  LUCREZIA 

THE  Holy  Year  of  JubUee  had  nearly  three  months  still 
to  run,  when  Cesare  Borgia,  well  supplied  with  money 
from  the  offerings  of  the  pilgrims  and  from  the  sale  of  twelve 
elevations  to  the  cardinalate  at  the  September  consistoiy, 
and  backed  by  the  consent  of  Venice,  which  the  Pope  had 
bought  by  his  demonstration  of  crusading  zeal  against  the 
Turk,  took  the  field  again  against  the  petty  tyrants  of 
Romagna  at  the  beginning  of  October.  His  own  forces 
amounted  to  some  seven  hundred  men-at-arms  and  six 
thousand  infantry,  with  Paolo  Orsini,  Giampaolo  Baglioni, 
Ercole  di  Sante  Bentivoglio,  and  other  condottieri,  and  he 
had  a  promise  of  a  well-equipped  body  of  French  horse  and 
foot  under  All^e,  which  would  bring  his  whole  anny  up 
to  some  ten  thousand  men. 

To  this  overwhelming  force  the  luckless  potentates  of 
Romagna  could  offer  no  effectual  resistance.  Rimini 
surrendered  as  soon  as  Ercole  Bentivoglio  appeared  before 
its  walls  in  the  name  of  Cesare,  Pandolfo  Malatesta  escaping 
to  Bologna.  Giovanni  Sforza,  too,  fled  "  the  hydra's  fieiy 
breath,"  and,  on  the  evening  of  October  27,  the  Boigia  made 
his  triumphal  entry  into  Pesaro. 

At  the  outset  of  this  Borgian  and  Papal  advance,  Gio- 
vanni Bentivoglio  saw  his  own  rule  in  Bologna  threatened, 

382 


THE  COMING  OF  MADONNA  LUCREZIA 

SLTkd   bad  appealed  to  Duke  Ercole  for  aid.    The  latter  had 
^written  earnestly,  to  both  Beltrando  G)stabai  and  Giovanni 
Valla,  Iiis  resident  orators  in  Milan  and  France  respectively, 
urg^ing'  tliem  to  point  out  to  the  King  and  his  representatives 
Uiat    tliG    royal  interests  in  Italy  would  be  seriously  com- 
promised,   if  C^esare  Borgia  or  the  Church  got  possession^of 
Faeirza,    Rimini,  and  Pesaro,  let  alone  Bologna.    *'  If  the 
rXixke    Valentino  or  the  Church  have  these  towns,"  Ercole 
writes     to     Costabili,   "together  with  Forll,   Cesena,   and 
Imola,    tliey  will  be  not  less  powerful  in  Italy  than  is  the 
State   of    M^ilan,  and,  therefore,  the  most  illustrious  Lords 
Dukes  of  IMilan  have  never  consented  that  the  Church  should 
undo  all   i:lie  lords  of   those  towns,  nor  that  they  should  be 
given  to   one  man  ;  nay,  they  have  done  all  they  could  to 
preserve    each  of  those  lords  in  his  State ;   and  to  avail 
themselves  the  better  of  them,  they  have  also  taken  them 
into    their  pay.    So,  in  all  the  enterprises  that  they  [the 
Dulces  of  Milan]  have  undertaken  in  Italy,  they  have  made 
^^^3^-t     lose  of  the  lords  and  cities  of  Romagna,  since  it  is 
a  corxvenient  place  and  very  handy  for  all  the  campaigns 
tliat  are  made  in  Italy ;  as  was  seen,  for  instance,  in  the  war 
ivaged  against  the  Florentines  in  the  time  of  the  magnificent 
33^xt.olomineo  of  Bergamo,  and  afterwards  in  the  time  of  the 
^^^ost.    serene  King  Charles,  and  lastly  when  the  Venetians 
v^slied   to  send  succour  to  Pisa  by  the  Val  di  Lamone. 
Therefore,  not  only  should  the  Most  Christian  Majesty  not 
^x^ffer   that  Bologna  should  come  into  the  hands  of  Duke 
"Valentino,  but  he  should  not  even  permit  him  .to  acquire 
xxvore  than  he  already  has  in  Romagna ;  besides  that  it  would 
\ye^  very  wrong  that  these  lawful  lords  should  be  undone  and 
Yiunted  out  of  their  homes,  without  any  just  cause."    Let 
-ttie  ambassador,  then,  urge  the  royal  lieutenants  in  his  name 

383 


DUKES  AND  POETS  IN  FERRARA 

not  to  sufEer  Bentivoglio  to  be  molested,  not  only  in  con- 
sideration of  the  protection  that  the  King  has  promised 
him,  but  also  seeing  that,  as  long  as  Bologna  is  in  his  hands, 
the  King  will  be  able  to  dispose  of  its  resources  as  he  chooses, 
which  he  certainly  cannot  do  if  it  falls  into  the  power  of 
Cesare  or  the  Pope.  Let  him  not  omit  to  make  them  realize 
that  the  writer's  own  interests  will  be  seriously  prejudiced 
if  Cesare  gets  more  in  Romagna  than  he  has,  and  especially 
in  Bologna.  He  suggests  that  the  King  and  his  lieutenants 
should  warn  the  Pope  not  to  attend  to  wars  in  Italy  at  a 
time  when  Christendom  is  threatened  by  the  Turk,  and 
concludes  by  urging  the  utmost  secrecy  with  respect  to 
these  commimications  of  his.  The  letter  to  Valla  is  in  nearly 
the  same  words.* 

The  royal  lieutenants  in  Milan  made  the  most  ample 
assurances  and  promises  in  favour  of  Bentivoglio ;  but  no 
reply  was  forthcoming  from  France.  "  His  Majesty," 
wrote  Machiavelli  to  the  Ten,  "  in  the  things  that  can 
arise  in  Italy,  makes  more  account  of  the  Pope  than  of  any 
other  Italian  potentate."  The  King  gave  the  Ferrarese 
and  Bolognese  envoys  to  understand  that  he  would  not 
interfere  with  the  affairs  of  the  Church,  nor  allow  his  Italian 
confederates  to  help  the  Romagnole  despots.  If  the  Pope 
actually  attempted  to  do  anything  against  the  Bentivoglio, 
his  Majesty  would  hear  both  sides  of  the  question  and  con- 
demn whichever  was  in  the  wrong.*  Ercole  was  forced  to 
dissemble. 

1  Archivio  di  Modena,  Minuiario  CronohgicOt  Minute  Ducali  of 
October  5,  1500.     See  Appendix  II.,  document  21. 

«  Letter  from  Ercole  to  Giovanni  Bentivoglio,  October  14, 1500 
(Dallari,  p.  193)  ;  Machiavelli's  dispatch  from  Nantes,  October  25» 
in  his  First  L^ation  to  the  Court  of  France. 

384 


XHE  COMING  OF  MADONNA  LUCREZIA 

As     Ces£Lre    was  entering   Pesaro,   PandoHo  Collenuccio 

ajTiveci    iix>on  the  scene— sent  by  the  Duke  of  Ferrara  to  con- 

grsLtxtlsLtG   the  conqueroTj  who  had  ahready  written  to  inf onn 

Iiim    of   Ids   progress,    Pandolfo  did  not  succeed  in  getting 

aj:i  a-udience  until  the  twenty-ninth ;  but  then  he  found  the 

Borg^ia.    most   affable.     ^'  In  substance,"  writes  Pandolfo  to 

tlie    Dixke,     **  he  told  me  thatj  knowing  the  prudence  and 

goodness    of    your  Lordship,  he  has  always  loved  you  and 

desired    to    have  dealings  with  your  Excellence ;  and  that, 

v^hen  you  ^^were  at  Milan,*  he  wished  to  have  done  so  ;  but  that 

time   and    those  affairs  that  were  then  in  progress  did  not 

p^^-jxiit   of    it.     And  so^  now  that  he  has  come  inrto  these 

parts,    follovring  up  this  desire  of  his,  he  wrote  you  that 

letter  al>oxit  his  progress,  as  a  beginning  and  demonstration 

of  his  m.in.d  and  to  show  you  that  he  is  your  son,  holding 

£qj.    certain   that  your  Lordship  would  be  pleased  thereat* 

And  he  is  going  to  do  the  same  also  for  the  future,  because 

he     desires    to   have  more  intrinsic    friendship  with  your 

Excellen.ce,  to  whom  he  oflfered  all  his  faculty  and  all  that 

he  conld  do,  saying  that  in  every  need  your  Lordship  should 

g^^    -the    proofs.    And  he  bade  me  commend  him  much  to 

^^xJL,    l>ecaiise  he  would  have  you  as  a  brother.    Also  he 

thanl^ed   your  Lordship  for  the  reply  that  you  had  made 

m^jy^  Toy  letter,  and  for  having  sent  a  special  messenger,  but 

^3^j^   tliat  there  was  really  no  need  ;  for  that,  even  without 

^Y^3^3^    Yie  vras  quite  certain  that  your  Lordship  would  take 

Ice^Ti.  pleasure  in  every  good  thing  that  befell  him.     In  fine* 

1-^^  oonld  not  have  used  better  nor  more  suitable  words  than 

Yx^    did,  always  speaking  of  you  like  a  brother  and  himself 

sl:s    a-  son.     And  for  my  part,  putting  the  affair  and  all  his 

*^   On  the  occasion  ot  the  triumphal  entry  of  Loiaie  XII. 

385 


DUKES  AND  POETS  IN  FERRARA 

words  together,  I  understand  that  he  would  be  very  gla( 
to  have  more  dealings  with  your  Lordship  and  good  friend 
ship." 

The  interview  lasted  a  good  half  hour,  Cesare  expressin( 
great  desire  to  be  on  friendly  terms  with  Ferranu  The] 
talked  of  Faenza,  which  he  declared  he  would  stonn  fiercely 
if  it  did  not  do  as  the  other  cities  had  done.  Not  a  wore 
of  Bologna.  He  was  delighted  to  receive  friendly  message 
from  Alfonso  and  IppoUto,  above  all  from  the  latter,  ol 
whom  he  spoke  most  affectionately.  "  They  say,"  adds 
the  envoy,  "  that  the  Pope  is  going  to  give  this  town  as  a 
dowry  to  Madonna  Lucresia,  and  to  give  her  an  Italian  foi 
husband  who  will  always  be  a  good  friend  of  the  Valentino 
If  it  be  true,  I  know  not ;  so  it  is  thought."  ^ 

A  Uttle  later,  to  his  disgust  and  indignation,  Ercole  found 
that  his  own  eldest  son,  Don  Alfonso,  was  the  person  upon 
whom  the  Pope's  choice  had  fallen. 

Lucrezia  Borgia  was  then  in  her  twenty-first  year,  radi 
antly  lovely  and  with  a  certain  d^ree  of  deveraess,  but 
destitute  of  the  finer  spirit  that  shines  out  in  other  women  o) 
that  epoch,  such  as  Isabella  d*  Este  or  Elisabetta  Gonzaga 
Hitherto,  she  had  been  simply  a  pawn  in  the  great  game 
her  father  and  brother  were  playing.  They  had  mamec 
her  to  Giovanni  Sforza  (in  whose  very  palace  the  above 
recorded  conversation  had  been  held),  when  the  star  of  the 
Sforza  seemed  in  the  ascendant ;  they  had  dissolved  the 
marriage  in  December,  1497,  when  a  different  political 
combination  seemed  desirable,  and  had  married  her  to  the 
young  Alfonso  of  Bisceglie,  nephew  of  the  King  of  Naples, 
in  July,  1498.      Alfonso's   life    had    ended   at  Cesare's 

1  Letter  from  Pandolfo  Collenuccio  to  Ercole  of  October  29,  15^- 
Gregorovius,  document  25. 

386 


THE  COMING  OF  MADONNA  LUCREZIA 

bidding-,     barely  two  months   before  this  new    marriage 
was    i>r-op>osed,  when  the  Aragonese  alliance  was  no  longer 
needed.       In  all  these  infamies  Lucrezia  had  been  to  a  cer- 
tain.    GJctGXkt    passive.    She  had,  on  one  occasion,   saved 
Giovaxini      Sforza  from  Cesare's  assassins ;   possibly,   the 
oatli    -that    she  declared  herself  ready  to  take,  to  have  her 
marriage   ^^^th  him  annulled,  would  not  have  been  perjury. 
Hideous     reix>rts    were  spread    by   Giovanni   Sforza  and 
others    whom  Cesare  had  injured,  concerning  relations  be- 
tiveen   her   and  other  members  of  the  Borgia  family  as  the 
real  moti^^e  for  the  divorce.    They  had  been  duly  reported 
to  Ercole    hy  Antonio  Costabili  and  Pandolfo  Collenuccio ; 
but,  prohsthly ,  were  as  little  credited  by  him  as  by  the  serious 
student    of    history  to-day.    According  to  another  scandal 
of  the  time,  she  had  had  a  lover  of  plebeian  origin  in  the 
interval  het^ween  the  dissolution  of  her  first  and  the  effectua- 
tion of  her  second  marriage.*    Be  that  as  it  may,  Lucrezia 
had  passionately  loved  her  second  husband  (who  had  married 
her  nxost   nnwiUingly),  and  had  borne  him  a  son,  Rodrigo. 
She  had  sincerely  wept  his  untimely  death,  perhaps  for  a 
nionth,    in    her  retirement  at  Nepi;    but  had  returned, 
smiling  and  serene  as  ever,  to  Rome,  looking,  with  her  sweet 
ixinocent  girl-like  face,  ready— over  ready,  in  fact— to  accept 
-the  TX€iV/  and  greater  fortune  that  was  preparing  for  her. 

^    ^A^ocording  to  a  dispatch  from  Bologna  to  the  Marquis  of  Mantua, 

oi    lAffltrcli  2,  1498,  a  favourite  papal  cameriere,  Pierotto,  was   im- 

•pnsoxied  "  per  haver  mgravidato  la  figliola  de  sua  Santit^,  Madonna 

X^xiLOxetia.  '•    (Pastor,  iii.  p.  288,  note  i).   In  Paolo  Cappello's  famous 

x-Gpoxt  to  the  Pregadi,  it  is  stated  that  Cesare  stabbed  Pierotto  to 

d^fflk.'tli.  iwith  his  own  hands,  while  he  clung  to  the  Pope's  mantle,  so 

-^l^^s^t.    Ids  blood  splashed  over  Alexander's  face    (Sanudo,  Diarii, 

\^S..  col.  846).    Pastor  (iii.  p.  429,  note  3)  regards  this  latter  story  as 

^x^or  edible. 

387 


DUKES  AND  POETS  IN  FERRARA 

The  Pope»  in  the  meantime,  was  doing  all  that  he  could 
to  isolate  Ercole  from  his  allies  and  make  it  impossible  for 
him  to  escape  out  of  his  net.    The  latter  had  resolved  not 
to  get  involved  in  the  affairs  of  Faenza,  where  young  Astorre 
Manfredi,  loyally  supported  by  his  subjects,  was  holding 
out  manfully  against  Cesare's  overwhelming  forces.   Both 
in  the  Venetian  Senate  and  in  the  French  Court,  the  papal 
orators  were  intriguing  against  the    Duke,  attempting  to 
make  Venice  and  the  King  believe  that  Florence,  Bologna, 
Mantua,  and  Ferrara  were  going  to  declare  against  France 
and  for  Maximilian,  the  Pope's  idea  being  to  restore  Hero 
de'  Medici  to  Florence,  take  Bologna  for  Cesare  Borgia, 
and  make  Ferrara  and  Mantua  completely  subservient. 
"  The  design,"  wrote  Machiavelli,  "  seemed  to  me  to  be 
worthy  of  the  Holiness  of  our  Lord  " ;  and  he  spoke  to  the 
Cardinal  of  Rouen,  pointing  out  that  the  Florentines  could 
not  possibly  expect  the  Emperor  to  help  them,  seeing  that 
he  had  done  nothing  for  Milan  that  was  his,  and  that  neither 
Bologna  nor  Ferrara  could  have  any  hope  in  any  one  save 
the  King,  for  protection  from  the  Pope  and  Venice.   Let 
his  Majesty  beware  of  those  who  were  seeking  the  destruc- 
tion of  his  friends,  only  to  make  themselves  more  potent 
and  more  easily  to  take  Italy  out  of  his  hands.    "The 
Majesty  of  the  King,"  answered  the  Cardinal,  "is  very 
prudent,  and  has  long  ears  and  short  belief ;  he  hears  every- 
thing, but  only  lends  faith  to  what  he  finds  by  actual  proof 
to  be  true."  ^ 

When,  in  December,  the  French  troops  under  Yves 
d*  AUfigrei  whose  unde  Aubigny  was   royal  governor  of 

*  Letter  from  Machiavelli  at  Tours  to  the  Ten  of  Uberty  and 
Peace,  November  21,  1500,  in  his  First  Legation  to  the  Conrt  w 
France. 

388 


THE  COMING  OF  MADONNA  LUCREZIA 

M;ila.n,   passed  through  the  districts  of  Modena  and  Reggio 

to    3,ic]    Cesaxe  Borgia  in  the  conquest  of  Faenza,  Ercole 

directed   his  ducal  captains  of  those  cities  to  provide  them 

Avith  lodgings  and  victuals  at  a  just  price,  to  pay  all  honour 

to    AJl^gre,    and  to  take  care  that  the  men-at-arms  were 

ivell    treated   for  their  money,  "taking  precautions  wisdy 

aniongf  your  other  measures  that  they  cannot  say  that  the 

gates   are   shut  against  them,  nor  that  they  are  mistrusted 

in    any    vi/'a.y."  *    Needless  to  say,  the  French  repaid  this 

confiden.ce  'with  brutality  and  outrage.    Against  one  specially 

overl>earirxg    party,  the  people  of  Modena,  "  down  to  the 

priests,"    rose  in  arms.    They  killed  six  in  the  piazza  and 

tviro  more  in  San  Domenico,  closed  the  gates  of   the  dty 

and  woxald  have  cut  all  the  rest  to  pieces,  if  Count  Gerardo 

Rangoxii    and  the  ducal  faUore,  Niccold  Sadoleto,  had  not 

come   to    the  rescue  and  persuaded  the  indignant  populace 

to  let  tl^em  go.a 

Before   the  end  of  the  year  1500,  Alexander  had  formally 

proposed  to  Ercole  that  Lucrezia  should  be  married  to  the 

hereditary  prince  of  Ferrara,  Don  Alfonso ;  and,  as  early 

as  November  26,  the  Venetian  ambassador  at  Rome,  Marino 

Gorzi,   had  informed  his  government  that  such  a  marriage 

viras    on    foot.*    The  idea  was  intensely  repugnant  to  the 

lioAXse    of  Este ;  Ercole,  who  had  hoped  to  make  a  great 

;p'ren.cl:i  match  for  his  son,  attempted  to  gain  time  by  pleading 

tlxa-t  he  was  already  negotiating  a  marriage  elsewhere  and 

<^c>vild  not  draw  back.    In  February,  1501,  the  papal  insist- 

^    Arcbivio  di  Modena.    Minutario    Cronologico,    December   21, 

*    Diario  Fwrartse,  coll.  393,  394.     This  was  at  the  beginning 
o±  April,  1 501. 

»  Sanudo,  Diarii,  iii.  col.  11 30. 

389 


DUKES  AND  POETS  IN  FERRARA 

ence  was  renewed.  Hearing  that  the  matter  of  Alfonso*s 
projected  marriage  had  been  put  by  the  Duke  into  the 
hands  of  the  King  of  France,  Alexander  was  sending  another 
papal  envoy  to  the  latter  sovereign  to  induce  him  to  support 
his  proposal.  Ercole  at  once  wrote  to  Bartolommeo  de*  | 
Cavallieri,  his  ambassador  at  the  French  Court,  to  beg  the 
King  not  to  give  way.  "  We  trust  that  his  Majesty  ^rill 
not  write  to  us  according  to  the  desire  of  the  Pope.  We 
shall  take  it  as  a  singular  favour  if  he  will  represent  that 
he  has  already  quite  decided  for  another  marriage.  B^ 
seech  him,  in  our  name,  with  the  greatest  efficacy  that  you 
can,  that  at  least  he  Mrill  not  write  to  uige  us  to  contract 
this  aflftnity  with  the  Pope,  nor  say  that  he  leaves  us  free 
in  the  matter.  Because,  to  speak  freely  with  his  Majesty, 
we  shall  never  yield  nor  consent  to  give  Madonna  Lucrezia 
to  Don  Alfonso ;  nor  could  Don  Alfonso  himself  be  ever 
induced  to  take  her."  * 

But  the  Pope  insisted.  Cardinal  Ferrari  wrote  from 
Rome  to  urge  Ercole  to  consent,  and  the  apostolic  com- 
missary from  Cesare  Borgia's  army  came  in  person  to 
Ferrara.  Dire  consequences  to  the  whole  State  of  the 
Estensi  were  threatened,  if  they  persisted  in  their  refusal. 
The  only  hope  that  remained  was  to  get  the  French  marriage 
settled  before  the  papal  envoy  arrived.  Ercole  instantly 
wrote  to  Cavallieri,  telling  him  that  he  remembered  two 
ladies  who  had  been  suggested  as  suitable  brides,  the 
daughter  of  the  Comte  de  Foix  and   Madame  d'Angou- 

*  Minute  d%  dispacci  per  Francia  a  Bartolommeo  de'  CavaUierij 
February  14,  1501.  Archivio  di  Modena,  Carteggio  degli  Ambasciaicrt 
— Francia.  The  opening  words  of  the  dispatch,  "  gi4  son  piii  mesi," 
show  clearly  that  Gregorovius  is  mistaken  in  supposing  that  the 
negotiations  began  with  Cardinal  Ferrari's  letter  of  February  18. 

390 


XHE  COMING  OF  MADONNA  LUCREZIA 

l^rnc        I^Gt   him  try  to  get  the  first  from  the  King  and  the 

CsurdLnail  of  Rouen  ;  but  if  "  quella  de  Foys  "  cannot  be  had, 

**  yoxi  i^ill  give  us  information  clearly  as  to  the  qualities  of 

lMa.clame    d'Angouleme,  in  such  wise  that  we  may  under- 

s±aj:icl  ^^rell  a.bout  her  age,  and  if  she  has  been  married  again 

or   not,    ajnd  in  what  degree  of  afltoity  she  stands  conjoint 

ivitli   the    IMost  Christian  Majesty ;  because,  when  we  have 

leameci    all,    vre  shall  then  answer  you  as  to  whether  we 

think    that    you  should  open  any  negotiations  about  her. 

We  shoixld  also  much  like  you  to  inform  us  of  the  qualities 

of  the  Foi^c  lady  and  her  age,  and  the  beauty  of  both  of 

them,   and    also  the  dowry  of  each,  if  you  can  find  it  out." 

And,  the  same  day,  he  sent  him  another  letter,  bidding  him 

instantly    inform  the  King  of  the  coming  of  the  apostohc 

commissa-iry  and  of  the  papal  threats,  and  beseech  him,  if  he 

is  urged  hy  the  Pope  in  this  matter,  to  tell  him  that  he  has 

already  oxxgaged  Don  Alfonso,  and  cannot  therefore  set  the 

I>iilce  at  liberty ;  "  or  whatever  will  seem  best  to  his  Majesty, 

provided    that  he  relieves  us  from  this  persecution  of  the 

Pope,    axid   that  he  delivers  us  from  his  hatred,  the  which 

withoia't  doubt  we  should  incur  very  greatly,  if  we  repulsed 

j^i3  overtures  although  we  were  at  liberty  to  satisfy  him, 

and    every    day  would  he  attempt  something  against  us. 

Xhis    ^vve    have  to  consider  and  estimate  very  much ;  but 

the    lAost   Christian  King  need  reck  little  if  he  does  not 

gx^atify  the  Pope  in  this,  since  the  Pope  has  more  need  of 

hixn.   t:han  he  of  the  Pope."  * 

The    Duke,  however,  had  reckoned  without  his  host. 
"Lo^ctis  v^as  counting  upon  the  Pope's  support  in  his  designs 

^     Alinuie  di  dispacct  per  Francia  a  Bartolommeo  de*  Cavallieri, 
"F^l^x^aary  25  (two  dispatches  of  same  date),   1501.     Archivio  di 
^^SjoAenA^  he.  cit 

391 


DUKES  AND  POETS  IN  FERRARA 

upon  Naples,  and  had  no  intention  of  offending  him  for 
the  sake  of  a  mere  feudatory  of  the  Church.  Cardinal 
Fenari  in  the  Pope's  name  represented  to  Ercole  the  advan- 
tages of  this  union,  and  the  enmity  of  the  Pope  and  Cesarc, 
perhaps  also  of  France,  if  he  refused  ;  and  Alexander  al- 
ready flattered  himself  that  the  day  was  won.*  On  May  26, 
Bartolommeo  de*  Cavallieri  wrote  from  Ch3Jonsthat,onthe 
previous  evening,  the  Cardinal  of  Rouen  had  told  him  that 
the  Pope  had  sent  one  of  his  secretaries  to  ask  the  King  to 
write  and  urge  Ercole  to  consent  to  the  marriage,  and  that 
the  King,  "  having  at  present  need  of  the  Pope,"  had  been 
unable  not  to  write  about  it  to  the  Duke.  Bartolommeo 
saw  the  King  that  morning.  His  Majesty  professed  himself 
favourable  to  the  marriage  of  Alfonso  and  the  daughter  of  the 
Comte  de  Foix,  but  said  that  the  Pope  had  pressed  him  to 
write  to  Ercole  in  support  of  the  Borgia  marriage,  "  and  that 
already  he  had  written  to  your  Excellence,  who  was  prudent 
and  wise,  and  who  would  not,  because  of  his  letter,  do  any- 
thing save  what  you  thought  fit,  adding  that  his  mtention 
is,  in  case  this  negotiation  does  not  proceed,  to  give  him 
the  Foix  lady."  *  Thus  the  responsibihty  for  further  re- 
sistance was  thrown  upon  Ercole's  own  shoulders. 

The  Duke,  who  had  continually  answered  the  impor- 
tunity of  the  Pope  by  pleading  that  he  could  not  enter  mto 
the  question,  because  he  had  entirely  resigned  his  liberty 
in  this  matter  to  King  Louis,  was  aghast,  and  saw  his  game 
played  out.  "  Where  we  beUeved  and  held  for  certain," 
he  wrote  back,  "  that  we  were  deUvered  and  liberated  from 
this  business  by  the  authority  of  the  Most  Christian  Majesty, 

*  Gregorovius,  p.  160. 

a  Dispacci  da  Franda  di  Bartolommeo  de'  Cavaliim.    ^"^"^ 
di  Modena,  loc.  cit, 

392 


XHE   COMING  OF  MADONNA  LUCREZIA 

we  see  ourselves  entangled  in  it  more  than  ever,  by  his  means 
and  his  -wrorlc.      Wherefore,  we  cannot  refrain  from  remon- 
strating 'with  his  Majesty  concerning  this  thing.  We  trusted 
in  the  vrorcis  and  promise  of  his  Majesty,  who  in  writing  to 
us    a£B.nxiLed    that   he  would  never  write  to  us  about  this 
matter  and  that  he  would  make  an  opportune  reply  to  the 
Pope.      And   "we,   trusting  in  the  grace  and  wisdom  of  his 
Majesty,   felt   quite  certain  of  this  thing;  and  we  replied 
continually    to    the  Pope's  importunity  that  we  could  not 
enter  into  this  husiness  with  him,  because  we  had  given  up 
our    faculty    and   liberty  to  the  Most  Christian  Majesty; 
>vhich  ^we    should  not  have  said,  nor  written,  if  we  could 
have  imagined  that  the  said  Majesty  would  have  changed, 
and  consented  to  have  such  a  letter  written  to  us  as  he  has 
done.      This  seems  to  us  so  much  the  more  grievous,  as  his 
Majesty   ^vith  one  tiny  Uttle  word  could  satisfy  the  Pope, 
by  giving  him  to  understand  that  already  there  had  been 
so  much   spoken  of  the  other  marriage,  and  that  his  faith 
had  been  given  to  such  an  extent,  that  he  could  not  change 
it  nor  in-tervene  in  favour  of  this  aflSnity  with  the  Pontiff. 
Nor  should  it  be  taken  into  consideration  that  his  Majesty 
at  present:  has  need  of  the  Pope,  as  the  most  illustrious  and 
reverend  Monsignor  of  Rouen  has  said  to  you  ;  for  the  Pope 
txsLS     m\ach    greater  need  of  his   Majesty,  without  whose 
f  avovir  lie  could  not  stay  in  Rome  nor  in  Italy.    And  if  the 
I^ost:    Cliristian  King  had  used  those  terms  with  the  Pope 
t^lxat-t  -p^^^^P^  would  have  been  not  unfitting  but  universally 
oomLxn-ended,  he  could  have  much  more  securely  disposed 
oit    -tkvis,  or  of  another  better  Pontiff,  than  he  can  at  present. 
"^xx-t.   we  cannot  do  so  ;  we  must  needs  temporise,  and  avoid 
^C^  occasions  of  angering  the  mind  of  the  Pope,  and  especially 
^^^     present,  since  we  have  seen  that  the  Most  Christian 

393  cc 


DUKES  AND  POETS  IN  FERRARA 

Majesty,  because  he  has  some  small  need  of  the  Pope,  grants 
him  what  he  wants,  paying  no  heed  to  our  coacerns  and 
needs.    And  if,  perchance,  his  Majesty  deemed  that  we  were 
of  such  great  cleverness  and  prudence  as  to  know  how  to 
get  out  of  this  difficulty  (and  this  may  be  the  cause  that 
has  induced  him  to  write  to  us !),  you  can  assure  him  that 
we  were  never  so  industrious  nor  so  wise  that  we  should 
know  how  to  vary  or  contradict  what  we  have  said  and 
written.    Since,  therefore,  we  have  always  affirmed  to  the 
messengers  of  the  Pope  that  this  affair  of  ours  was  in  the 
hands  of  the  Most  Christian  King  (trusting  in  him,  as  we 
said  above),  and  now  his  Majesty  writes  to  us  according  to 
the  Pope's  desire,  we  are  reduced  to  so  great  peiplexit}' 
that  we  do  not  know  what  line  of  conduct  to  adopt.  For, 
in  the  first  place,  we  are  resolved  never  to  contract  this 
relationship  with  the  Pontiff.    It  does  not  appear  to  us 
advisable  to  tell  him  absolutely  that  we  will  not ;  because 
such  a  repulse  would  make  him  an  even  bitterer  enemy  to 
us  than  he  is  now.    Neither  will  we  say  that  the  Most 
Christian  Majesty  does  not  wish  it,  albeit  he  writes  to  us 
in  another  tone  in  order  not  to  offend  him.     He,  therefore, 
can  judge  right  well  the  great  difficulty  to  which  we  are 
reduced  ;  from  which  we  see  no  way  of  escape,  save  by  the 
means  and  aid  of  his  Most  Christian  Majesty.'** 

But  these  were  mere  words,  and  Ercole  soon  found  that 
further  resistance  was  useless.  The  Pope  threatened  him 
with  the  loss  of  his  duchy  unless  he  consented,  and,  ai- 
though  the  King  told  Cavalheri  that  Ferrara  was  under  his 
special  protection  and  could  only  fall  if  France  tell, 

i  Original  letter  of  June  9,  1501.     IsiruHane  a  Bartoiontmeo        I 
Cavallieri.    Archivio  di  Modena,  loc,  ciL 

394 


THE  COMING  OF  MADONNA  LUCREZIA 

French  ministers  urged  the  Duke  to  yield  on  advantageous 
conditions  for  Ferrara  and  the  House  of  Este.  The  Cardinal 
of  Rouen  sent  the  Archbishop  of  Narbonne  to  Ferrara  to 
counsel  compliance.^  Ercole  gave  way  with  some  dignity, 
declaring  that  he  was  postponing  his  own  will  and  the 
dignity  of  his  House  for  the  desires  and  interests  of  the  King 
of  France.  He  was  ready,  he  told  the  envoys  of  Alexander 
and  Cesare,  to  do  what  the  King  and  Cardinal  desired, 
provided  that  a  satisfactory  agreement  could  be  made 
about  the  details  and  conditions.  To  the  Cardinal  of 
Rouen  himself  he  wrote :  **  Having  postponed  the  honesty 
of  my  most  ancient  House,  I  have  decided  to  yield."  * 

So  pleased  was  the  Sovereign  Pontiff  at  Ercole's  surrender, 
that  he  promptly  took  a  holiday,  leaving  Lucrezia  in  the 
Vatican  as  regent  of  the  Papal  States.  He  was  not  so 
pleased  a  Uttle  later,  when  he  heard  of  the  conditions  upon 
which  Ercole  insisted.  These  included  200,000  ducats  as 
Lucrezia's  dowry,  Uberation  from  the  annual  tribute  that 
was  paid  to  the  Holy  See,  the  concession  to  himself  of  the 
right  of  patronage  of  the  bishopric  of  Ferrara,  the  cession  to 
Ferrara  of  Cento  and  La  Pieve  (small  towns  included  in  the 
archbishopric  of  Bologna,  and  therefore  a  part  of  the  Papal 
States),  and  a  number  of  benefices  for  members  of  the  House 
of  Este.  Alexander  offered  half  the  dowry  demanded. 
The  French  King  advised  Ercole,  if  the  thing  had  to  be 
done,  to  get  the  biggest  profit  out  of  it  that  he  could ;  in 
case  it  fell  through,  he  was  still  ready  to  find  a  French 
bride  for  Alfonso.*    But  he  thought  that  the  ducal  demands 

*  Gregorovius,  pp.  169,  170. 

*  MifiMte  Ducali  of  July  8,  1501,  to  Giovanni  Valla  and  the 
Cardinal  of  Rouen.    Archivio  di  Modena,  MimUario  Cronohgico. 

*  Gregorovius,  pp.  172,  173. 

395 


DUKES  AND  POETS  IN  FERRARA 

were  excessive.  Ercole  indignantly  protested  that  he  was 
only  asking  what  was  reasonable,  "  in  such  wise  that  it  can 
be  understood  that  we  make  more  accoxmt  of  honour  than 
of  money.*'  If  there  should  be  any  further  delay,  he  assured 
the  King,  or  any  rapture  in  the  negotiations,  it  would 
proceed  entirely  from  the  Pope.  He  wrote  to  Cesare  Boigia 
that  he  had  agreed  to  this  marriage,  "  because  of  the  rever- 
ence which  we  bear  to  the  Holiness  of  our  Lord,  and  the 
excellent  qualities  of  the  most  illustrious  Madonna 
Lucrezia  ;  but  much  more  because  of  the  love  and  affection 
which  we  bear  towards  your  Excellence."  *  Cesare  and 
Lucrezia — the  latter  being  the  one  person  most  bent  upon 
the  marriage,  and  showing  her  wishes  without  the  slightest 
delicacy — ^persuaded  the  Pope  to  give  the  Duke  what  he 
wanted.  Venice  misliked  the  affair,  as  tending  to  increase 
Cesare's  power  in  Italy.  The  King  of  the  Romans  urged 
Ercole  not  to  make  this  alliance.  But  the  ill-humour  of  the 
one  Power  and  the  interference  of  the  other  merely  streng- 
thened the  Duke's  hands.  On  September  i,  1501,  the 
marriage  was  contracted  per  verba  in  the  palace  of  Belfiore, 
the  Pope  having  previously  conferred  on  the  Cardinal 
Ippolito  the  dignity  of  Archpriest  of  San  Pietro.'  The 
Duke  wrote  to  Lucrezia  on  the  same  day : — 

"  Most  illustrious  and  noble  lady,  our  daughter-in-law 
and  dearest  daughter.  Your  Ladyship  will  hear  from  Messer 
Guglielmo,  Archdeacon  of  Chilons,  the  present  bearer,  how 
to-day  by  the  Divine  grace  the  marriage  has  been  contracted 
per  verba  de  presenti  between  yourself,  by  means  of  your 

^  Minute  to  Bartolommeo  de*  Cavallieri  and  the  Most  CbrisdBB 
King,  of  August  1 1,  to  "  the  Duke  of  Romagna  "  [i.e.  Cesare  Borgia], 
of  August  6.     Aichivio  di  Modena,  Minutario  Cronohgico. 

*  Gregorovius,  pp.  174,  175. 

396 


THE  COMING  OF  MADONNA  LUCREZIA 

^^^^^     procurators,  and  the  most  illustrious  Don  Alfonso, 

^^*^    first-begotten.     To  us  this  thing  has  been  a  supreme 

^^^^^^Gtian  and  very  great  consolation  in  our  old  age.    We 

-'^^^^^   thereat  with  your  Lads^hip,  whom  we  first  loved  in 

xi-o   ordinary  wise  because  of  your  own  singular  virtues,  our 

^^^^^^^^^^  for  the  Holiness  of  our  Lord,  and  because  you 

^^^^     the    sister  of  the  most  illustrious  Duke  of  Romagna, 

'^^     ^^^^  hold  as  our  honoured  brother.     Now  we  love 

you    intimately  more  than  a  daughter,  hoping  that  from 

yoiz    ^virill    result  the  conservation  of  our  posterity ;  and  we 

snail  endeavour  to  have  you  near  us  as  soon  as  possible, 

accordixig  to  our  desire."  ^ 

Biit  in  his  communication  the  next  day  to  the  Marquis  • 
M.an"tiia,  to  his  ambassadors  in  France,  Venice  and 
Florence,  and  to  Bentivoglio,  he  simply  stated  that  he  had 
yiddeci  ±o  the  exhortations  of  the  Most  Christian  King, 
now  that  the  Pope  had  agreed  to  his  conditions.  Indeed, 
he  originally  intended  to  say  that  he  "  had  condescended  " 
to  ajrrange  this  relationship  with  the  Pope,  but  thought 
better  of  it,  and  altered  the  word  to  "  consented  "  before 
the  dispatch  was  sent.* 

Therei  ^werewild  rejoicings  in  the  Papal  Court  at  the  news 

that  the  fish  had  at  last  been  brought  to  land.     The  Vatican 

was    Ulnminated  ;  cannons  thundered  from  Sant*  Angelo. 

Lixcrezia   could  not  contain  herself  for  delight.     She  went 

tlnronglx  Rome  in  state  to  give  thanks  in  Santa  Maria  del 

T?opo\o,  and  her  Spanish  buffoon  danced  through  the  streets, 

cVveerixig    for  "  the  most  illustrious   Duchess  of    Ferrara." 

TrV\.e  Yope,  losing  what  Uttle  dignity  he  had  left  to  him, 

^    Minute   Ducali  of  September  i,    1501.  Archivio    di  Modena, 
JMi^ulario  Cronologico. 

«   Mifmte  Ducali  of  September  2.    Ibid. 

397 


DUKES  AND  POETS  IN  FERRARA 

assembled  the  Cardinals  in  consistory,  and  barangaed 
them  about  the  virtues  and  prudence  of  Duke  Ercole,  the 
excellent  qualities  of  Don  Alfonso,  the  ancestral  glories  of 
the  House  of  Este. 

On  September  15  two  Ferrarese  envoys,  Gerardo  Saraceni 
and  Ettore  Berlinghieri,  arrived  in  Rome.  Their  object 
was  to  secure  the  papal  Bulls  required,  before  their  master 
committed  himself  further — Bartolommeo  de'  Cavallieri 
having  warned  him  not  to  trust  the  Pope  further  than  was 
necessary.  Lucrezia  received  them  enthusiastically,  and 
showed  herself  the  most  zealous  supporter  of  the  Ferrarese 
claims.  "  She  already  seems  to  us  an  excellent  Ferrarese," 
wrote  the  ambassadors.  Festivities  fast  and  furious  followed 
in  the  Vatican,  some  of  them  far  exceeding  the  bounds  of 
propriety.*  Lucrezia  danced  night  after  night,  to  the  huge 
edification  of  his  Holiness  and  the  admiration  of  the 
Ferrarese  envo3^,  until  she  made  herself  quite  ill.  A  few 
little  complications  remained.  One  was  the  personage 
whom  the  unsophisticated  reader  of  these  events  might 
have  imagined  to  be  the  bride's  lawful  husband,  Giovanni 
Sforza  of  Pesaro,  who  was  supposed  to  be  lurking  in  Mantua. 
The  Pope  made  the  ambassadors  write  to  Ercole  that  the 
unlucky  man  must  be  kept  out  of  the  way,  and  not  allowed 
to  come  to  Ferrara  at  the  time  of  the  wedding.  Another 
was  the  little  boy,  Rodrigo,  her  son  by  Sforza's  even 
more  unfortunate  successor  ;  but  Lucrezia  assured  Gerardo 
Saraceni  that  he  would  stay  in  Rome  and  that  ample  pro- 
vision would  be  made  for  him.  "  Rome  seems  to  me  a 
prison,"  said  the  gay  young  lady,  and  she  urged  the  Pope 
to  do  everything  that  Ercole  wanted.*    She  had  already 

*  Cf.  below,  p.  402,  note  2. 

*  The  Bull,  reinvesting  Ercole  and  Alfonso  and  their  descendants 

398 


THE  COMING  OF  MADONNA  LUCREZIA 

begun  axi  affectionate  and  confidential  correspondence  with 
her     prospective  father-in-law.    The  envoys  assured  him 
that    she  had  nearly  fainted  when  she  heard  that  he  was 
ill,  £txicl   haxl  expressed  her  ardent  wish  that  she  could  have 
come  to  Kerrara  to  heal  him  with  her  own  hands,  as  she  had 
cJon^     iJiie    Pope  on  a  similar  occasion.*    With  his  usual 
anxiety   that  the  dramatic  and  spectacular  entertainments 
in  the    ooming  celebrations  should  be  worthy  of  his  reputa- 
tion,    EIrcole  wanted  to  hear  all  about  the  mighty  deeds 
of  the    ajiicestors  of  the  Borgias  in  past  ages,  in  order  that 
they    might  be  worked  up  for  artistic  purposes.    But  his 
ambassadors  found  it  difficult  to  satisfy  him.    "  Up  to 
now,'*    they  wrote,  "  it  is  only  of  Calixtus  that  something 
virorthy  is  found,  especially  his  own  achievements,  of  which 
Platina   -writes  much.    For  the  rest,  it  is  generally  known 
Mrhat   this  Pope  has  done,  so  that  whoso  has  to  make  the 
oration  Mrill  have  a  wide  field  open  before  him."  *  This  was 
perfectly  tnie,  though  not  quite  in  the  sense  in  which  the 
vnriters  ostensibly  meant  it. 

Don  Alfonso  still  maintained  a  sullen  silence.  The 
Empieror  Maximihan  continued  to  abuse  the  Pope  and  to 
blame  the  marriage,  urging  the  Duke  to  draw  back  before 
it  viras  too  late.  Ercole  promptly  informed  the  Pope  of 
this  **  evil  disposition  "  of  the  King  of  the  Romans,  and 
had  his  letters  read  to  the  papal  orators  at  Ferrara.  "  Al- 
though as  far  as  it  concerns  us,"  he  wrote  to  his  ambassadors 

with  the  Dukedom  of  Ferrara,  is  dated  September  17, 1501  (Theiner, 
iii.  PP-  5 1 '"Sis).  The  tribute  is  reduced  to  one  hundred  golden 
florins  annually,  or,  in  case  of  the  direct  issue  of  Alfonso  and 
Lucreria  failing,  to  one  thousand. 

1  Gregorovius,  p.  190. 

9  ]:>ispatch  of  October  18.    Gregorovius,  pp.  192,  I93- 

399 


DUKES  AND  POETS  IN  FERRARA 

in  Rome,  "  we  do  not  make  much  account  of  this  opinion 
of  his  Majesty,  since  we  have  done  what  we  have  with 
reason  and  feel  every  day  greater  satisfaction  of    soul 
thereat ;  nevertheless,  because  of  the  tie  that  binds  us  to  his 
Holiness,  and  in  order  that  with  his  wisdom  he  may  be 
able  to  judge  of   this  demonstration   for   his  other  needs 
and  affairs,  we  have  thought  that  we  ought  to  inform  him 
of  what  we  hear.    We  are  persuaded  that,  with  his  prudence, 
he  will  examine  and  judge  right  well  how  far  this  evil  dis- 
position of  the  said  Majesty  can  matter  to  him."*    The 
imperial  opposition  was  for  Ercole  simply  an  excellent  instru- 
ment with  which  to  reduce  his  Holiness  to  docility.    Alex- 
ander was  profuse  in  his  panegyrics  of  Lucrezia,  her  beauty, 
her  graciousness  and  prudence.    Cesare,  who  was  now  in 
Rome  (Faenza  had  capitulated  in  April,  and  the  partition  ol 
the  NeapoUtan  Kingdom  between  France  and  Spain  had 
been  practically  effected  in  July),  also  approved,  but  was 
"  not  at  home  "  to  the  Ferrarese  ambassadors — a,  thing  which 
the  Pope  declared  grieved  him  to  the  very  heart.*    There 
were  still  some  weeks  of  negotiation  and  haggling ;  Ercole 
would  not  send  to  fetch  the  bride  until  he  got  his  Bulls  and 
her  dowry  paid  down  in  hard  cash,  but  professed  himself 
insulted  when  Alexander  said  that  he  was  acting  like  a 
merchant.    Lucrezia  continued  to  urge  the  Pope  to  yield 
in  every  particular,  while  Maximilian  put  all  the  pressure 
he  could  upon  the  Duke  to  delay.    But,  on  November  14, 
Ercole  wrote  to  the  Marchesana  Isabella  (who  had  been  the 
most  emphatic  of  all  the  family  against  Lucrezia  when  it 
had  been  first  proposed),  that  he  had  decided  to  send  the 

1  Letter  of  October  23,  1501,  to  Saraceni  and  Berlinghieri.   Ar- 
chivio  di  Modena,  Carteggio  degli  AmbascicUori — Roma. 
*  Dispatch  of  Saraceni,  October  26.     Gr^orovius,  p.  191- 

400 


MlHi;' 


THE  COMING  OF  MADONNA  LUCREZIA 

company  to  Rome  to  fetch  Lucrezia  at  the  beginning  of 
December,  and  that  the  marriage  would  be  celebrated  as 
soon  as  she  arrived  in  Ferrara  : — 

"  Since  you  are  our  daughter,  it  is  proper  that  you  should 
be  present  at  this  wedding,  and  so  we  exhort  you  to  come. 
And  we  are  certain  that  the  most  illustrious  Lord  Marquis, 
your  consort  and  our  most  beloved  brother,  will  be  most 
pleased  at  your  coming  hither,  as  he  is  always  desirous  to 
do  whatever  pleases  us.    And  although  we  should  not  be  less 
desirous  that  his  Lordship  also  should  be  present  at  it,  never- 
theless, for  every  sufl&cient  reason,  it  seems  to  us  better  that 
he  should  not  come,  taking  into  account  the  condition  of 
the  presenttimes— aUof  which  we  beUeve  that  his  Lordship, 
too,  in  his  prudence  right  well  considers  and  knows.      And 
so  your  Ladyship  can  give  him  to  imderstand.'*  ^ 

At  the  same  time,  a  very  different  transaction  was  in 
progress  between  Ercole  and  Lucrezia.  He  had  interested 
his  Borgia  daughter-in-law  in  his  mystical  aspirations, 
and  especially  in  his  cult  of  St.  Catherine  of  Siena.  As  we 
saw,  he  had  sent  Bartolonuneo  Bresciano  to  Rome,  to  induce 
her  to  use  her  influence  with  the  Pope  to  get  the  ntrns  that 
Lucia  wanted  sent  from  Viterbo  and  Nami  to  the  new 
convent  of  Ferrara.  "We  desire  greatly,"  he  wrote  to 
Lucrezia,  "  that  an  excellent  b^inning  should  be  given  to 
that  monastery  with  these  nims,  who  are  full  of  supreme 
goodness  and  charity.  It  will  be  easy  for  your  Ladyship  to 
obtain  that  we  have  what  we  desire^  and  you  will  give  us 
as  great  a  pleasure  as  you  could  possibly  give  us  by  any 
other  action  that  at  present  we  could  expect  from  you.  As 
soon  as  we  thought  of  using  the  means  and  favour  of  your 
Ladyship  in  this,  we  thought  that  we  had  gained  our  object. 
*  Archivio  di  Modena,  Minuiario  Cronologico. 
401 


DUKES  AND  POETS  IN  FERRARA 

And  let  not  your  Lad}rship  wonder  at  this  solicitation  of  ours, 
because,  since  we  are  in  the  state  that  we  are,  we  attend 
more  to  affairs  of  the  soul  (like  this  is)  than  to  other  matters, 
and  the  affairs  of  the  soul  should  be  embraced  with  all 
possible  fervour  and  efficacy.**  * 

With  this  letter,  Bresciano  reached  Rome  on  the  evening 
of  October  ii,  not  without  running  considerable  risk  on 
the  way  from  bands  of  French  and  Gascon  soldiers  who 
were  marching  from  Lombardy  to  join  the  royal  forces  in 
the  newly  conquered  Neapolitan  provinces.     He  was  de- 
lighted at  his  reception  by  Lucrezia,  who  promised  to  do 
all  that  the  Duke  wanted  and  induced  the  Pope  to  send 
messengers  to  the  governors  of  Viterbo  and  Nanu  with 
papal  briefs  and  letters  from  the  General  of  the  Dominicans, 
threatening  the  nuns  with  excommunication  unless  they 
came  to  Rome  within  six  days.     "  So  I  live  in  hopes,"  wrote 
Bresciano  to  Ercole,  "  that  her  Ladyship  will  bring  them  with 
her  to  Ferrara,  to  make  a  desired  present  of  them  to  your 
Excellence  and  to  the  venerable  Suora   Lucia;     and  I 
shall  not  abandon  the  undertaking,  as  your  Lordship  has 
committed  it  to  me,  but  shall  keep  continually  near  this 
most  iUustrious  Madonna  until  we  are  brought  to  Ferrara. 
Verily,  this  lady  has  taken  up  this  thing  with  all  her  powers 
to  get  your  Lordship  gratified,  and  I  find  her  Ladyship  so 
well  disposed  towards  you  that  she  could  not  be  more.    I 
hope  that  your  Excellence  will  be  right  well  satisfied  with 
this  most  illustrious  Madonna,  for  she  is  endowed  with  so 
much   graciousness    and   goodness    that    she   continually 
thinks  of  nothing  else,  save  how  to  serve  you."  * 

1  Letter    dated    Comacchio,    September    28,    1501-    Gandirn, 
Lucrexia  Borgia,  document  6. 

^  Dispatch  of  October  31.  Gandini,  op,  ciL,  document  14-   ^"^ 

402 


THE  COMING  OF  MADONNA  LUCREZIA 

Esurly  in  November,  Suora  Diambra  and  Suora  Leonarda 
canao  "to  Rome,  accompanied  by  our  old  friend,  the  redoubtable 
Fra.    ACajrtino.    Their  appeals  to  the  General  of  the  Domini- 
caxis  axid  to  the  Pope  himself  were  of  no  avail.    His  Holiness, 
-withLOut:   further  words,  told  them  that  they  were  sent  to 
FenrsLiTd..      Lucrezia  was  more  kind,  but  equally  firm,  and 
told,    tlxein  plainly  that,  unless  they  produced  those  other 
nvuis   ±Ix3Lt  Ercole  and  Lucia  wanted,  she  would  herself  send 
and  fetch  them  on  her  own  account.    All  sorts  of  excuses 
>vere    no-w  trumped  up  by  these  pious  dames.    "  For  my 
part,"    said  Leonarda,  "  I  cannot  come,  because  I  have  my 
old  mother  who  is  infirm.    If  only  my  brother  were  alive,  I 
could  say  that  I  would  come,  but  never  will  I  abandon  my 
mother.**      "You  must  obey  the  commands  of  the  Pope," 
answered  Bresdano  severely.     Then  Diambra  the  prioress, 
whom   Bresciano  had  previously  noted  as  a  woman  of  few 
words,  suddenly  gave  tongue.    "  Suora  Beatrice,"  she  said, 
'*  is  so  lame  that  she  cannot  move  without  two  crutches. 
As  to  Snora  Feliciti,  we  shall  never  give  her  to  Suora  Lucia, 
because  she  has  the  dropsy  so  badly  that  it  would  not  do  to 
put  her  Mrith  the  other  sisters.    Her  family  will  never  let 
Suora  Appolonia  come  to  Ferrara.   -  Lfet  us  go  home,  and  we 
shall  choose  four  nuns  so  good  and  sufl6cient  that  the  vener- 
able Suora  Lucia  will  be  contented  and  well  satisfied."  ^ 


last  day  of  October,  1 501,  is  the  date  of  the  notorious  supper  said  by 
joliannes  Burchardus  {Diariutn,  ed.  Thuasne,  iii.  p.  167)  to  have 
been  given  by  Cesare  in  his  apartment  in  the  Vatican  to  fifty  harlots 
— the  Pope  and  Lucrezia  being  present — and  followed  by  an  orgie 
of  the  most  obscene  description.  For  a  discussion  of  this  unpleasant 
topic,  see  Pastor,  iii.  p.  452,  notei.  It  seems  quite  incredible,  in  the 
face  of  the  laudatory  epistles  about  Lucrezia's  goodness  and  virtues 
that  the  Kerrarese  agents  were  sending  at  this  very  time  to  the  Duke. 
1  3rcsciano's  dispatches  of  November  1 2  and  1 8, 1 501 .  Gandini,  op. 

403 


DUKES  AND  POETS  IN  FERRARA 

Ercole,  however,  persisted  that  he  must  have  the  women 
Lucia  wanted ;   seven  from  Viterbo,  two  from  Nami,  and 
two  other  young  girls  who  were  not  nuns.    He  professed 
himself  certain  that  Lucrezia  would  see  the  thing  through. 
He  declined  to  believe  in  Beatrice's  lameness  or  in  Felicities 
dropsy  (though  he  was  ready  to  dispense  with  Leonarda 
herself,  if  necessary),  and  suggested  that  Lucrezia  should 
tell  the  Governor  of  Viterbo  to  speak  with  them.    In  the 
presence  of  Fra  Martino  and  Bresciano,  the  Pope's  daughter 
gave  a  thorough  scolding  to  Diambra  and  Leonarda,  whom 
she  found  "  more  obstinate  than  the  devil,"  as  Bresdano  put 
it.    The  heads  of  the  Dominican  Order,  understanding  that 
Lucrezia  had  taken  the  matter  in  hand  and  that  the  nuns 
would  be  properly  looked  after  until  they  got  to  Ferrara, 
made  them  give  way.    Bresciano  went  to  Viterbo,  with  a 
commissary  of  the  Pope,  and  brought  the  nuns  wanted 
safely  to  Rome  on  December  21,  the  contingent  from  Nami 
coming  in  a  few  days  later.    The  original  idea  had  been  for 
Lucrezia  to  bring  them  with  her  to  Ferrara ;  but  this  being 
obviously  unsuitable,  Ercole  decided  that  his  sacred  prize 
— ^which  was  regarded  as  a  present  to  liim  and  Luda  from 
Lucrezia — should  set  out  a  day  or  two  in  advance  of  the 
bridal  party,  Lucrezia  herself  taking  care  that  they  were 
properly  housed  and  provided  for  on  the  way  with  all  pos- 
sible comfort  in  the  cold  winter  weather.    Hearing  that 
there  were  a  number  of  relations  of  the  nuns  who  wanted  to 


cii.,  documents  18  and  19.  In  the  latter  document  I  have  cor- 
rected an  evident  error  in  the  text.  Gandini  (pp.  15,  42)  reads  *'Ss 
sore  Biatrice  la  priora  dice  essere  siancaia  "  ;  but  it  should  obviously 
be  "  De  sore  Biatrice  la  priora  dice/'  the  speaker  being  the  prioress 
Diambra,  as  is  quite  dear  from  the  context  and  from  Ercoi«'« answer 
(document  21). 

404 


THE   COMING  OF  MADONNA  LUCREZIA 

^^'^'^^    *o   Ferrara  with  them,  Ercole  professed  himself  well 

pleased.  :     **  Let  all  come  who  want  to  come,  and  caress  them 

and  txse  every  kindness  towards  them,"  he  wrote  to  Bresciano, 

l>eca."iise  also  by  us  they  will  be  well  received  and  caressed."^ 

A^*  tlie  last,  Suora  Beatrice  began  to  make  fresh  difficulties, 

l>xi"t    -^rsLS    apparently  overcome  by  Bresciano  hinting  that, 

^with  tier  spirit  and  devemess,  she  would  certainly  be  one 

of  those  -who  vroxQd  govern  the  monastery.    Right  glad  was 

the   v^oirtliy  fellow  when,  on  the  last  day  of  the  year,  he 

mustered  his  troublesome  flock  and  found  that  not  one  of 

those  his  master  wanted  was  missing.    "  My  lord,"  he  wrote, 

**  I  never  Icnevr  what  labour  was  until  I  had  to  make  so  many 

heads  agree.      I  thank  our  Lord  God  who  has  got  me  through 

it  with  credit,  but  there  was  a  time  when  I  doubted."  * 

In  the  meanwhile,  the  splendid  cort^e  of  princes  and  nobles 
of  Kerrara  had  come  to  Rome  to  fetch  Don  Alfonso's  bride. 
An  the  nohlest  families  in  the  Estensian  duchies  were  repre- 
sented.      The   Cardinal  Ippolito  was  the  presiding  genius ; 
with    him    -were  his  brothers  Ferrando  and  the  younger 
Sigismondo,  his  cousin  the  younger  Ercole,  Niccold  Maria  and 
Meliadnse  d*  Este  (bastards  of  the  House,  and  bishops  re- 
spectively of  Adria  and  Comacchio),  Niccold  da  Correggio  and 
Federigo  della  Mirandola,  representatives  of  the  Pio,  Ran- 
goni,  Strozzi  and  the  like ;  as  special  ducal  ambassadors  came 
Giaxx    ILnca  Pozzi  of  Pontremoli  and  Gerardo  Saraceni,  as 
hef  ore,  ^while  a  number  of  ecclesiastics  and  religious  were 
l^eaded  hy  Maestro  Zanetto,  the  Inquisitor  of  San  Domenico.' 
^VT^ith  them  rode  young  Annibale  Bentivoglio,  whose  presence 


^   Ga.ndini,  op.  cit.,  document  28. 

^  X>ispatch  of  December  31.    Gandini,  op,  cit,,  document  30. 
»  Tlie  whole  list  is  given  by  Zambotto  in  his  Silva  Cromcatunt, 


axid  in  the  Diario  Ferrarese. 


405 


DUKES  AND  POETS  IN  FERRARA 

in  Rome,  according  to  the  hopes  of  his  father  and  Ercole, 
would  augment  the  good  dispositions  of  the  Pope  towards 
the  Lords  of  Bologna.^  The  whole  cavalcade  consisted  of 
more  than  five  hundred  persons,  superbly  mounted  and 
gorgeously  arrayed,  preceded  by  pipers  and  trumpeters ;  but 
the  weather  was  fearful  and  the  journey,  in  the  utmcKt 
discomfort,  took  thirteen  days. 

On  the  morning  of  December  23,  they  made  their  state 
approach  to  the  Eternal  City.    There  were  the  usual  recep- 
tions at  intervals  along  the  way.    At  the  Ponte  Milvio,  the 
Senator  of  Rome  and  other  civic  dignitaries  met  them  with 
two  thousand  men  ;  further  on,  they  were  greeted  by  Cesare 
Borgia  and  the  French  ambassador,  with  the  Swiss  guard. 
It  was  nearly  evening  when  they  reached  the  Porta  del 
Popolo,  where  nineteen  Cardinals  awaited  them ;  a  united 
procession  was  formed,  Romans   and  Ferrarese  together 
passing  in  triumph  through  the  streets  towards  the  Vatican, 
while  the  cannons  of  Sant'  Angdo  thundered  out  their  wel- 
come.   After  a  most  cordial  reception  by  the  Pope,  Cesare 
brought  the  Princes  of  Este  to  be  introduced  to  his  sister. 
Lucrezia  appeared  in  a  wonderful  costume  of  white  and  gold, 
with  a  green  headdress,  all  studded  with  the  famous  peark 
that  she  so  loved.    It  was  noticed  that  Cardinal  Ippolito's 
eyes  flashed  when  he  saw  her,  and  the  others  were  equally 
delighted.    The  same  evenmg  Messer  Gian  Luca  went  with 
Saraceni  to  interview  her,  on  behalf  of  Ercole  and  Alfonso, 
and  sent  the  former  a  glowing  account  of  her  beauty  and 
her  piety — ^upon    the   latter  point,   seeing  that  she  had 
promisedj^him  the  reversion  of  the  bishopric  of  Reggio, 
he  was   surely   a  competent    judge.     Nevertheless,  the 
tone  of  his  dispatch   shows  that  apprehensions  had  sUU 
^  Ct  letters  in  Dallari,  pp.  205,  206. 
406 


THE  COMING  OF  MADONNA  LUCREZIA 

been  entertained  at  the  Ferrarese  Court.  "  Altogether/'  he 
wrote,  "  she  seems  to  me  of  so  excellent  a  condition  that 
there  is  no  need  or  possibihty  of  fearing  anything  sinister 
from  her,  but  we  may  rather  presume,  believe  and  hope 
always  the  best  conduct."  ^ 

By  a  decree  of  the  Pope,  the  carnival  now  began,  and 
for  more  than  a  week  Rome  was  the  scene  of  the  wildest 
festivities.     Lucrezia   gave  balls  in   her  own  palace,  at 
which  she  danced  specially  with  Don  Ferrando, "  gentilmente 
e  con  grazia  singolare,"  while  the  Ferrarese  and  Mantuan 
guests  eyed  her  damsels  and  judged  that,  with  a  few  excep- 
tions, they  could  show  fairer  at  home.    The  public  ways 
swarmed  with  masked  courtesans.    The  Cardinal  and  Fer- 
rando went  with  Cesare  masked  through  the  streets,  while 
all  Rome  seemed  rejoicing,  though — as  we  learn  from  "  El 
Prete,"  a  dependant  of  Niccold  da  Correggio  and  correspon- 
dent of  the  Marchesana  Isabella — bruUi  giochi  were  played 
after  dark.*    On  the  evening  of  December  30,  Lucrezia,  in  a 
magnificent  costume  of  crimson  and  gold  brocade,  blazing,  as 
usual,  with  pearls,  emeralds  and  rubies,  with  a  long  retinue 
of  cavaliers  and  ladies,  was  escorted  in  state  by  Ferrando  and 
Sigismondo  to  the  Vatican.    In  the  Sala  Paolina  the  Pope 
sat  enthroned  with  the  Cardinals  and  Cesare,  the  ambas- 
sadors of  France,  Spain  and  Venice  being  present.    Here  the 
marriage  by  proxy  was  celebrated ;  Ferrando  gave  the  bride 
the  ring  in  the  name  of  his  brother,  the  Cardinal  Ippolito 
presenting  her  with  a  superb  casket  of  jewels,  of  the  value 
of  70,000  ducats,  the  gift  of  Duke  Ercole  to  his  daughter-in- 
law.    Races  and  a  sham  fight  were  exhibited  in  the  Piazza 
beneath  the  windows,  after  which  Lucrezia's  damsels  danced 

*  Dispatch  of  December  23,  1501.     Gregorovins,  document  31. 

*  Gregorovius,  pp.  204,  205. 

407 


DUKES  AND  POETS  IN  FERRARA 

f  or  an  hour  before  the  Pope,  she  and  Cesare  opening  the  ball. 
Alexander  was  nearly  crazy  with  ddight  and  fondness,  and 
laughed  continually.  Then  there  were  comedies  played, 
with  allegorical  pastorals,  upon  the  conclusion  of  which  the 
gathering  broke  up,  leaving  the  Borgias  and  Estensian 
princes  together  to  sup  quietly  with  the  Pope.* 

But  the  Duke  of  Ferrara  by  no  means  trusted  either 
Alexander  or  his  daughter  completely.  He  had  given 
Messer  Gian  Luca  minute  directions,  before  be  left  Ferrara 
and  by  letter  since,  as  to  the  way  in  which  Ippolito  was  to 
present  the  jewels  to  Lucrezia,  and  he  charged  the  Cardinal 
strictly  not  to  deviate  in  the  slightest  d^ree  from  these 
instructions,  "  in  order  that,  in  case  the  Duchess  should  fail 
in  her  duty  towards  the  most  iUustrious  Don  Alfonso,  vre 
may  not  be  more  obliged  than  we  wish  to  be,  concerning  these 
jewels."  He  was  not  to  make  an  unconditional  present  of 
them  to  her,  and  there  was  to  be  no  mention  of  them  in  the 
notary*s  instrument.'  The  ambassadors,  in  a  similar  spirit, 
declined  to  give  the  papal  authorities  a  receipt  for  the  dowry, 
until  every  penny  of  it  had  been  paid,  and  Ercole  warmly 
conmiended  their  prudent  conduct.*  They  had  previously 
assured  him  that  Lucrezia  had  told  the  Pope  himself  that  she 
would  never  give  his  Holiness  cause  to  blush  for  her  conduct, 
and  of  this,  "so  far  as  we  can  judge,*' they  declared  them- 
selves convinced,  being  much  edified  by  her  bearing  and  the 
Ufe  of  her  household.^ 


*  Gr^orovins,  pp.  205-207.  . 

*  Gregorovius,  p.  206  ;  MifiuU  Ducali  to  Cardinal  Ippolito,  Pe- 
cember  21,  1501.    Archivio  di  Modena,  Carteggio  deiPrindpi- 

*  Minute  Ducali  to  Pozzi  and  Saraceni,  December  31.    ArchivK) 
di  Modena,  Minutano  Cronologico, 

^  Dispatch  of  December  28.    Gregorovius,  p.  213. 

408 


THE  COMING  OF  MADONNA  LUCREZIA 

The  festivities  reached  their  height  on  the  first  two  daj^ 
of  the  new  year,  1502.    On  January  i,  there  was  a  great 
pageant  in    the  Piazza  San  Pietro,  given  by  the  Roman 
municipality.     Thirteen  triumphal  chariots,  accompanied 
by  a  thousand  men  on  horse  and  foot,  with  music  and  pre- 
ceded by  the  banner  of  the  City,  came  from  the  Piazza 
Navona  to  the  Vatican  and  moved  round  the  square,  setting 
forth  the  trimnphs  of  Hercules  and  of  Caesar  and  the  heroes 
of  ancient  Rome,  while  the  Pope  and  his  guests  looked  on 
from   the   windows.    Then,   in   the   Vatican,    there   were 
comedies  and  morris-dances ;  shepherds  recited  the  praises 
of  Lucrezia,  who  sat  at  the  Pope's  right  hand,  siUToimded 
by  the   Cardinals.    A  buffoon  danced  before  the   Pope, 
dressed  as  a  woman,  the  courtiers  joining  in,  masked,  with 
Cesare  himself  conspicuous  among  them  by  his  splendid 
attire  and  noble  figure.    To  the  sound  of  trumpets,  a  tree 
appeared,  out  of  which  came  a  child  who  sang  verses  and 
threw  cords  of  silk  to  the  merrymakers,  who  whirled  round  it 
as  they  danced.     Finally,  at  the  Pope's  command,  Lucrezia 
descended  from  her  throne  and  led  out  another  dance  with 
one  of  her  Spanish  ladies. 

The  next  day  opened  with  a  great  bull-fight  in  front  of 
San  Pietro,  in  which  Cesare  took  part  and  killed  the  most 
furious  bull  with  his  lance.  In  the  evening  there  was  a 
dramatic  representation  in  the  Pope's  chamber,  the  whole 
being  designed  to  glorify  the  new  alliance  between  Este  and 
Borgia.  Virtue  and  Fortune  strove  together  for  precedence, 
until  Glory  appeared  upon  a  triumphal  car  with  the  world 
beneath  her  feet,  declaring  that  Caesar  and  Hercules  had 
overcome  fortune  by  virtue,  relating  the  deeds  of  the  Duke 
of  Romagna.  Hercules  followed  and  fought  with  Fortune, 
whom  he  took  and  bound,  releasing  her  only  on  Juno's 

409  D  D 


DUKES  AND  POETS  IN  FERRARA 

promise  that  neither  would  ever  do  anything  against  the 
Houses  of  Este  and  Borgia,  but  would  favour  this  new 
relationship.  Afterwards  come  Rome,  on  a  triumphal 
chariot,  and  bewailed  that  Alexander,  who  held  the  place 
of  Jove,  should  deprive  her  of  Lucrezia,  who  was  the  refuge 
of  all  Rcrnie.  Ferrara  followed,  without  a  triumphal 
chariot,  declaring  that  Madonna  was  going  to  no  unworthy 
place,  and  that  Rome  was  not  losing  her.  Then  appeared 
Mercury,  sent  to  establish  concord  between  the  two  cities, 
announcing  that  it  was  the  will  of  the  Gods  that  Madonna 
Lucrezia  should  go  to  Ferrara,  and  he  made  Ferrara  ascend 
upon  a  triumphal  chariot  and  pass  in  honour  across  the  stage. 
This  being  concluded,  the  Menaechmi  of  Plautus  was  played, 
and,  in  the  scene  where  one  of  the  twins  is  seized  by  order  of 
his  father-in-law,  the  actor  cried  out  that  he  marvelled  that 
they  dared  to  use  such  violence  to  him,  when  Caesar  and 
Hercules  were  on  his  side,  and  Jove  propitious.  This  topical 
allusion,  of  course,  raised  much  applause,  and  the  preceding 
allegory  inspired  the  Ferrarese  agents  with  great  hopes  that, 
in  the  future,  Ercole  could  count  upon  the  aid  of  the  Borgia 
against  his  enemies.^ 


^  These  festivities  are  fully  described  in  dispatches  from  Pozzi  and 
Saraceni  to  Duke  Ercole,  and  from  El  Prete  to  Isabella  d'  Este,  both 
of  January  2, 1502 ;  documents  34  and  35  in  Gr^orovius,  pp.  414-417 
(also  in  his  text,  pp.  208-211).  "All  these  things,"  wrote  Gian 
Luca  and  his  colleague,  waxing  eloquent  over  the  all^ncal 
portion  of  the  entertainment,  "  were  recited  in  heroic  verse,  right 
elegantly,  always  celebrating  greatly  the  conjunction  between 
Caesar  and  Hercules,  manifestly  intending  us  to  infer  that  together 
they  should  do  great  deeds  against  the  enemies  of  Hercules,  in  such 
wise  that,  if  the  results  corresponded  with  these  prognostications, 
our  affairs  would  come  to  a  right  good  termination."  The  hint  is 
directed  against  Venice.  In  a  previous  dispatch,  of  December  28, 
the  envoys  had  seen  grounds  for  hope  that  the  Pope  would  help 

410 


THE  COMING  OF  MADONNA  LUCREZIA 

Amidst  her  preparations  for  starting,  Lucrezia  did  not  for- 
get to  further  Duke  Ercole's  rather  numerous  interests. 
She  had  already  procured  from  the  Pope  the  promise  of  the 
reversion  of  the  bishopric  of  Reggio  for  Gian  Luca  Pozzi,  and 
was  exerting  herself  also  on  behalf  of  Don  Giulio.     "  Since 
we  greatly  desire  the  honour  and  weal  of  the  most  illustrious 
Don  Giulio,  our  son,"  wrote  the  Duke,  "we  pray  your 
Ladyship,  before  you  leave  Rome,  to  be  good  enough  to 
obtain  from  the  Holiness  of  our  Lord  this  other  grace,  that 
his  Beatitude  promise,  as  soon  as  an  occasion  presents  itself, 
to  confer  a  good  benefice  upon  the  said  Don  Giulio,  such  as  a 
bishopric  or  a  good  abbey,  as  we  beUeve  that  your  Ladyship 
will  easily  obtain,  through  your  influence,  as  also  because 
of  the  excellent  dispositions  that  the  Holiness  of  our  Lord 
bears  towards  us  and  our  sons."  *    She  was  indefatigable  in 
providing  for  the  captured  nuns,  whom  she  dispatched  upon 
their  journey  on  January  4,  giving  Bartolommeo  Bresciano 
an  escort  of  crossbowmen  and  bidding  him  wait  for  her  at 
Bologna,  in  order  that  she  herself  might  bring  them  thence 
to  Ferrara.    This  latter  part  of  the  plan  fell  through,  as 
Ercole  obviously  thought  it  unsuitable  and  was  anxious  that 
the  nuns  should  arrive  some  days  before  the  bridal  cortege. 
At  Cesena,  the  troublesome  Suora  Beatrice  fell  ill ;  but,  by 
feeding  her  up  with  marchpane  and  bread  sopped  in  chicken- 
broth,  Bartolommeo  brought   her   round;   and,   avoiding 
Bologna,  they  went  on  to  Ferrara  from  Faenza,  by  way  of 
Lugo  and  Argenta.    The  city  was  already  in  festal  array  to 


iv 


hi 


Ercole  to  recover  the  Polesine  of  Rovigo,  and  that,  if  a  safe  occasion 
presented  itself,  he  would  drive  the  Venetians  from  Ravenna  and 
Cervia  to  give  ^ese  places  to  Cesare  (Balan,  v.  p.  524,  note  2). 

*  Minute  Ducali,    undated,   to  Lucrezia.     Archivio  di  Modena, 
Carteggio  dei  Prindpi, 

411 


DUKES  AND  POETS  IN  FERRARA 

greet  Lucrezia,  when  they  arrived.*  The  Duke  himself  came 
out  to  meet  them.  The  same  day  he  wrote  to  Lucrezia, 
explaining  that  he  had  instructed  Bartolommeo  not  to  wait, 
but  to  bring  them  on  by  the  shorter  way  of  Lugo  and 
Argenta,  because  he  thought  it  would  be  inconvenient  to  her 
to  have  the  nuns  in  her  train,  and  because  he  was  anxious 
to  have  them  with  him  as  soon  as  i>ossible.  "  You  will  be 
pleased  that,  without  putting  your  cort^e  to  any  incon- 
venience, these  sisters  have  arrived  here  with  celerity  to 
satisfy  our  desire."  * 

In  the  meanwhile,  Lucrezia  had  turned  her  back  for  ever 
upon  the  Eternal  City.  She  left  Rome  on  January  6,  riding 
a  white  mule  covered  with  gold  and  silver  trappings,  all  the 
Cardinals,  ambassadors  and  magistrates  accompanying  her 
to  the  Porta  del  Popolo.  The  Pope  rushed  from  window  to 
window  of  the  Vatican  to  follow  her  with  his  eyes  as  far  as 
possible — perhaps  some  instinct  told  him  that  he  was  never 
to  see  his  daughter  again — and  consoled  himself  with  sending 
letters,  both  from  himself  and  through  the  Cardinal  of 
Modena,  urging  Ercole  and  Alfonso  to  treat  her  kindly. 
Cesare  Borgia  and  the  Cardinal  Ippolito  rode  with  her  a  little 
way,  and  then  turned  back  together ;  an  imaginan'  con- 
versation between  these  two  worthies  on  their  return  would 
have  furnished  a  fitting  subject  for  Walter  Savage  Landor. 

The  noble  cavalcade  of  Romans  and  Ferrarese  moved 
slowly  through  the  Papal  States,  the  people  headed  by  their 
magistrates  pouring  out  in  gala  attire  to  greet  the  new 
Duchess  as  she  passed.  In  Foligno,  they  performed  a 
pageant  in  her  honour.    The  Lucrezia  of  old  Rome 

*  Gandini,  op,  cit.,  pp.  18-20.  uodeoi 

*  Minute  Ducali  of  January   23,    1502.      Archivio  di  mou    , 
Carteggio  dei  Ptincipi, 

412 


THE   COMING  OF  MADONNA  LUCREZIA 

surpassed  in  virtue  by  her  namesake  and  successor  ;   Paris 
revoked   his  sentence  and  gave  the  golden  apple  to  her, 
eclipsirxg  ail  the  ancient  goddesses  ;  the  Sultan  appeared  i 
a  galley  of  Turks,  and  assured  her  that  he  would  restore  aJLl 
the  conquered  Christian  lands.    The  Ferrarese  ambassado 
found  il:  stupid;  the  verses,  they  said,  were  scarcely  those 
Petraroa,  and  there  was  no  point  in  the  whole  performance.  ^ 
Two  miles  from  Gubbio,  the  Duchess  Elisabetta  joined  therrx  , 
and  accompanied  Lucrezia  all  the  rest  of  the  way.     Guido^ 
baldo  himself,  marked  out  for  destruction  by  her  Hous^  » 
met    them  near  Urbino  and  made  over  his  own  palace  ±cz^ 
Lucre^a.     Thence,  on  January  20,  they  moved  slowly  do^vx^ 
to  Pesaro — the  city  in  which  Lucrezia  had  lived  as  the  wif^ 
o£   its    now  exiled  lord,  Giovanni  Sforza, — ^where  Cesare*^ 
agents   received  her.    Here,  practically  for  the  first  time, 
Lucrezia  showed  some  signs  of  sensibihty  ;    in  her  former- 
husband's  palace  she  kept  to  herself  and,  although  she 
allowed  a  dance,  was  not  present  at  it.    Thence  she  passed 
on    to    Cesare's  recent  conquests  of  Cesena,  Faenza  and 
Imola  ;   at  the  time  of  her  jubilant  entering  into  the  two 
latter  towns,  their  dispossessed  rulers,  the  beautiful  young 
Astorre    Manfredi  and  Caterina  Sforza  Riario,  were  beings 
kept    closely  imprisoned  in   Rome,   and    the    former  was  /•] 

doomed  to  meet  a  fate  of  appalling  atrocity,  a  few  months 
later,  by  her  brother's  orders.  At  Bologna,  the  Benti- 
voglio,  anxious  to  ingratiate  themselves  with  the  dreaded 
Cesare,  gave  her  a  sumptuous  reception.  Thence,  on  the 
morning  of  January  31,  the  bridal  party  started  on  their 
way  to  Ferrara  by  canal  and  river.* 

1    Dispatch  of  Pozzi  and  Saraceni,  January  1 3, 1 502 .    Gregorovius, 
document  37. 

3    It  will  be  remembered  that  the  courses  of  the  Reno  and  Po  have 


I 

3 


DUKES  AND  POETS  IN  FERRARA 

On  the  evening  of  the  same  day,  they  arrived  at  Castello 
Bentivoglio,  about  twenty  miles  from  Ferrara.  Here  the 
bridegroom,  Don  Alfonso,  suddenly  appeared  upon  the 
scene.  He  had  come  disguised  with  four  horsemen  to  see 
his  bride,  stayed  with  her  for  a  couple  of  hours,  and  then 
went  back  to  Ferrara.  This  surprise  visit  of  his,  which  was 
quite  contrary  to  the  usual  ceremonial  etiquette  on  these 
occasions,  made  an  excellent  impression.  "  It  pleased  all 
the  people,"  writes  Zambotto,  "  and  much  more  the  bride 
and  all  her  friends,  that  his  lordship  should  desire  to  see  her 
and  that  he  should  be  taking  her  with  good  heart,  for  it  was 
a  sign  that  she  would  be  well  received  and  better  treated."^ 

Isabella  had  come  from  Mantua  to  do  the  honours  of 
Ferrara  to  Lucrezia,  and  with  the  old  Duke  she  arranged  the 
whole  thing.  In  her  letters  to  her  husband,  she  describes 
every  detail  in  the  pageantry  and  festivities,  with  many 
pretty  little  messages  to  him  and  to  the  children,  especially 
the  puUino  Federigo,  but  shows  clearly  that  she  misliked  the 
situation  and  was  not  over  pleased  at  her  brother's  wedding. 
Still  her  bearing  towards  the  bride  was  cordiality  itself.  On 
February  i,  she  met  her  in  her  barge  at  Malalbeigo ;  and 
together  with  the  Duchess  Elisabetta,  Don  Ferrando  and 
Sigismondo,  they  went  on  to  Torre  della  Fossa,  the  point 
where  the  canal  joined  the  Po  di  Ferrara  or  Canale  di  Cento, 
which  thence  led  to  Ferrara  itself.  Cloth  of  gold  and 
crimson  silk,  with  profusion  of  pearls,  was  the  distinguishing 
feature  in  the  dress  of  Lucrezia ;  Isabella  wore  a  robe  of 
green  velvet  worked  with  gold ;    the  more  sober-minded 

been  completely  altered  since  those  dajrs.     A  canal  then  ran  torn 
Bologna  to  join  the  Po  di  Primaio  near  Ferrara  itself. 

^  Lucrexia  Borgia  in  Ferrara,  sposa  a  Don  Alfonso <f  EsU,V9'  '^' 
13  (Ferrara,  1867.      C£.  below,  p.  41 8»  note  i). 

414 


THE  COMING  OF  MADONNA  LUCREZIA 

£Ilis3.l>etta,   was  clad  in  black  velvet  covered  with  golden 
de^vices.       At  Torre,  the  ducal  bucentaur  was  in  readiness, 
vei^li.   "the  axnbassadors  of  France  and  all  the  Italian  Powers 
on  bostrd  ;    Ercole  and  Alfonso,  with  their  Court,  were  waiting 
on  foot  on  the  shore,  and  the  mounted  crossbowmen,  bales-- 
tTi^tri^  in  their  gala  dress  of  red  and  white,  drawn  up  behind 
them.       Lucrezia  sprang  to  shore  and  was  embraced  by 
Ercole  (it  -was  the  first  time  that  they  had  seen  each  other), 
v^ho  attempted  to  prevent  her  kissing  his  hand.    Then  they 
all  entered  the  great  bucentaur,  where  the  ambassadors  were 
presented,  and  Lucrezia  took   her  seat  between  the  repre- 
sentatives of  France  and  Venice,  Ercole  and  Alfonso  going 
up  on    the  poop  and  amusing  themselves  with  the  bride's 
Spanish  buffoons,  who  sang  her  praises.    Amidst  popular 
acclamation  and  salvos  of  artillery,  they  landed  near  the 
Porta  San  Paolo,  and  Lucrezia  was  brought  for  the  night  to 
the  palace  of  Alberto  d*  Este  in  the  Borgo  San  Luca,  where 
Lucre^a  d*  Este  Bentivoglio  did  the  honours. 

Qn    February  2,  the  Feast  of  the  Purification  of  the 
Madonna,  this  new  Roman  Lucrezia  made  her  state  entry 
into  FexTara.     After  hearing  Mass  and  having  dinner,  Ercole 
3jj^^  Alfonso,  with  Alberto  d'  Este  and  the  French  ambas- 
sador, M^onsignor  Filippo  della  Rocca  Berti,  came  to  fetch 
lier .     Xliey  entered  the  city  by  the  Ponte  del  Castel  Tedaldo, 
-L^^^x-ean^a,  a  mass  of  superb  jewels  and  gems,  in  every  sense 
j^^l3-tress  of  herself  and  of  the  situation.    A  beautiful  white 
horse,  tlie  Duke's  gift,  had  been  brought  her,  covered  with 
^x^ji^son  cloth  with  most  sumptuous  ornaments  of  gold  and 
,p^3xls.      At  the  entrance  to  the  city,  the  sudden  discharge  of 
a^xtillery  frightened  the  animal,  which  reared  and  threw  her. 
TViere  was  general  consternation  for  a  moment ;  but  she 
\anded  on  her  feet,  laughing  gaily»  and  the  Duke  made  her 

413 


DUKES  AND  POETS  IN  FERRARA 

mount  a  mule  instead.  Looking  round,  she  saw  the  French 
ambassador  between  the  two  Venetian  envoys,  and  at  once 
summoned  him  to  her  side,  a  position  of  honour  which  be 
retained  for  the  rest  of  that  day. 

The  procession  was  headed  by  three  squadrons  of  mounted 
balestfieri  of  the  ducal  guard,  in  red  and  white  unif onus  with 
white  French  hats  and  huge  plumes,  followed  by  more  than 
a  hundred  trumpeters,  pipers,  and  drummers.    Then  came 
all  the  courtiers  and  nobles  of   Ferrara,  gorgeously  arrayed 
and  wearing  massive  gold  chains  and  necklaces,  attending 
upon  Don  Alfonso  himself,  who,  mounted  upon  a  superb 
bay  horse,  dressed  in  dark  velvet  covered  with  scales  oi 
beaten  gold  and  wearing  a  black  and  gold  velvet  cap  with 
white  feathers,  rode  slowly  forward,  accompanied  by  Anni- 
bale  BentivQglio.    The  attendants  of  the  Duchess  of  Urbino 
followed.    Next  came  the  bridal  cortege  proper :   twenty 
Spanish  and  Roman  gentlemen,  riding  two  and  two ;  five 
bishops,  to  wit,  the  Estensi  of  Adria  and  Comacchio,  the 
Bishop  of  Cervia,  and  two  sent  by  the  Pope,  who,  in  spite  of 
Ercole's  soUcitation,  had  declared  that  it  would  not  be  pos- 
sible to  allow  a  Cardinal  to  accompany  the  bride  on  this 
occasion  ;  and  the  ambass£tdors  of  the  Tuscan  Republics,  of 
Venice  and  of  Rome,  in  crimson  mantles  and  brocade  of 
gold.    More  musicians  f ollowed,with  Lucrezia's  two  buffoons, 
to  introduce  a  Ughter   note.      Then,  under  a  canopy  of 
crimson  silk  carried  by   the  doctors  of  the  universities, 
appeared  Lucrezia  herself,  riding  her  mule  (the  restive  horse 
being  led  along   in  front),  waited    upon  by  six  of  her 
husband's  chamberlains,  and  with  the  French  ambassador 
riding  alone  by  her  side  under  the  oanopy.    Isabella, 
describing  the  pageant  to  the  Marquis,  noted  that  among  tne 
magnificent  jewels  blazing  all   over  her  were  those  tna 

416 


THE  COMING  OF  MADONNA  LUCREZIA 

lircole  had   sent  to  Rome,  induding  the  ones  that  had 
belonged  to  the  writer's  own  mother, "  the  blessed  memory  of 
Madama  of  Ferrara."-   Radiant  with  exultation,  her  sweet 
girHike  face  and  slender  figure  making  her  appear   even 
younger  than  she  really  was,  Lucrezia  won  the  hearts  of  her 
future  subjects  on  the  very  day  she  entered  the  city,  and 
had  akeady  almost  reconciled  the  House  of  Este  to  the 
relationship.    Side  by  side,  Ercole  himself  and  the  Duchess 
Elisabetta  followed  after  the  canopy.    A  troop  of  "  gentle- 
women and  fair  damosels,"  led  by  Angela  and  Girolama 
Borgia,  the  Pope's  nieces,  Adriana  dei  Mila  and  one  of  the 
Orsini,  rode  next,  with  Lucrezia  BentivogUo  and  many  others 
following  in  fourteen  chariots,  of  which  the  first  two  were 
drawn  by  white  horses  and  covered  with  gold  brocade.    Then 
followed  some  two  hundred  more  balesMeri,  partly  mounted, 
partly  marching  on  foot.    A  long  array  of  mules,  decked 
in  moreUo  and  yellow,  the  bride's  colours,  brought  up  the 
rear,  carrying  her  goods  and  treasures. 

At  intervals  along  the  way  were  the  inevitable  triumphal 
arches,  painted  with  allegorical  devices  and  m3^ological 
scenes.  At  four  places  were  representations  and  recitations, 
which  to  Niccold  Cagnolo,  who  was  in  the  suite  of  the  French 
ambassador,  seemed  "most  worthy,"  but  Isabella,  writing 
to  her  husband,  declared  them  not  worth  mention.  The  three 
goddesses  with  the  golden  apple,  Hercules  with  the  god  of 
Love,  Mercury  with  nsonphs  appeared  in  succession,  singing 
verses  in  honour  of  the  bride  and  bridegroom  ;  nymphs  and 
bucephalous  men,  with  satyrs,  danced  and  gamboled  round 
Emropa  mounted  upon  the  red  bull  of  the  House  of  Borgia. 
It  was  evening  by  the  time  that  the  procession  reached  the 
great  piazza.  Instantly  all  the  prisoners  in  the  city  were 
released,  while  from  the  Torre  di  Rigobello  and  the  tower 

417 


DUKES  AND  POETS  IN  FERRARA 

of  the  Palazzo  della  Ragione  two  acrobats  flew  down  on  ropes, 

amidst  the  applause  of  the  vast  crowd  that  had  gathered 

together  in  Ferrara  from  every  province  of  Italy  to  see  the 

wedding.     **  So  full  was  the  piazza  in  every  part,"  writes  the 

Ferrarese  Diarist,  "  that  if  a  grain  of  millet  had  fallen  to 

earth,  it  would  not  have  reached  the  ground."    At  the  head 

of  the  great  stairway  of  the  palace  (the  Corte  Vecchia), 

Isabella,  in  a  marvellous  robe  embroidered  over  with  notes 

of  music,  with  Laura  Gonzaga  and  the  Estensian  ladies, 

received  the  bride ;    while,  without  in  the  piazza,  all  the 

musicians  gathered  together  and  played  a  long  harmonious 

welcome,  the  bakstnen  seized  the  baldacchino,  and  the 

servants  of  Ercole  and  of  Alfonso  fought  together  for  the 

possession  of  Lucrezia's  mule.^ 

Six  days  of  festivities  followed,  with  a  series  of  dramatic  re- 
presentations from  Plautus,lightened  by  masques  and  morris- 
dances.  In  the  afternoon  of  the  day  after  Lucrezia's  arrival, 
February  3,  there  was  a  great  ball  in  the  Sala  Grande  of  the 
Corte.  Lucrezia  appeared  in  all  her  glory,  and  "  danced  many 
dances  in  the  Roman  and  Spanish  fashion  to  the  sound  of 
her  tambourine-players."  The  crowd  was  so  great  that, 
after  the  bride  had  danced  her  dances  alone,  there  was  no 
room  for  much  general  dancing.  Then  came  the  comedies. 
First  the  Duke  exhibited  to  his  guests  all  the  costumes  that 

*  Our  chief  contemporary  sources  for  this  "  most  happy  and  in»t 
fortunate"  bringing  of  Lucrezia  to  Ferrara,  and  the  '*^^^,   i 
spectacles  "  of  her  wedding,  are  :  the  relaxione  of  NiccoB  ^^^ 
Parma,  inserted  by  Zambotto  into  his  chronicle  and  V^^r^^^ 
Antonelli,  Lucresia  Borgia  in  Ferrara  (an  excerpt  from  Z^  ^ 
corresponding  to  ft.  359-380V  of  his  chronicle) ;  Sanudo,  .^ ' 
coU.  222-230 ;  the  letters  of  Isabella  d'  Este  to  her  husband, m  l^  ^' 
NoHsis  di  Isabella  d"  BsU,  pp.  303-309  ;  the  Diario  Fsrroffst, 
410-413. 

418 


THE  COMING  OF  MADONNA  LUCREZIA 

were  to  be  worn  by  the  actors  in  all  the  performances,  "  in 
order,"  Isabella  wrote  to  her  husband,  "  that  it  might  be 
known  that  these  dresses  were  made  on  purpose,  and  that 
those  of  one  comedy  would  not  have  to  serve  for  the  others." 
Then  an  actor  came  forward  in  the  person  of  Plautus,  and 
recited  a  prologue  explaining  the  arguments  of  all  the  five 
comedies  that  were  to  be  played  during  the  week.     On  this 
first  night,  the  Epidicus  was  represented,  with  five  bdlissime 
moresche  between  the  acts,  including  a  mock  fight  of  gladi- 
ators and  a  somewhat  trivial  allegory  of  the  triumph  of 
virtue.     After  the  dance,  on  the  next  evening,  the  Bacchides 
was  given,  which,  with  its  moresche,  lasted  five  hours.    One 
of  these  morris-dances  included  a  dance  of  wild  men,  with 
horns  of  plenty  full  of  some  inflammable  stuff  that  blazed 
up  as  they  moved,  and  the  deliverance  of  a  distressed  maiden 
from  a  voracious  dragon  by  a  knight.    The  Miles  Ghriosus 
was  represented  on  the  evening  of  February  6,  with  dances 
of  men  covered  with  blazing  torches  so  that  they  seemed  all 
on  fire,  homed  shepherds  butting  against  each  other  as  they 
danced,  a  triumph  of  Cupid,  a  dance  of  jugglers  with  darts 
and  daggers.    The  next  evening  they  had  the  Asinaria,  with 
new  moresche  between  the  acts,  dances   of  satyrs,  mimio 
hunts  of  beasts  and  birds,  and,  at  the  end,  the  triumph  of 
Agriculture,  a  s5miboUcal  pageant  of  the  whole  life  of  tlie 
fields  from  sowing  to  harvest.    Women  took  part  in  these 
entertainments  as  well  as  men  and  boys,  the  total  number 
of  actors  being  over  a  hundred.    On  the  last  day  of  the 
festivities,  Febraary  8,  which  happened  to  be  Shrove  Tuesday, 
after  the  dance  in  the  Sala  Grande,  there  was  a  sumptuous 
performance  of  the  Casina  in  another  room,  at  which  more 
than  three  thousand  persons  were  present.    The  interludes 
were  especially  admired,  though  to-day  they  appear  some- 

419 


DUKES  AND  POETS  IN  FERRARA 

what  pointiess.  One  apparently  symbolized  the  victory  of 
Love  and  Music  over  rude  and  savage  natures,  while  in 
another  twelve  Swiss  demced  a  fnoresca^  fighting  with  their 
halberds  in  time  to  the  orchestra.* 

Isabella's  daily  letters  to  the  Marquis  of  Mantua  give  us  a 
vivid  picture  of  these  days,  not  untinged  with  a  touch  of 
maUce.   The  ladies  have  always  to  wait  for  Lucrezia,  because 
she  lingers  for  hours  over  her  toilet,  in  order  to  suipass  the 
Duchess  of  Urbino  and  the  writer,  whereas  "  I  wiU  not  pass 
over  in  silence,  in  my  own  praises,  that  I  am  always  the  first 
up  and  dressed."    As  for  the  plays  and  interludes,  they  bored 
the  Marchesana  terribly,  and  the  whole  marriage  seemed  to 
her  to  be  very  cold.     "  I  wiQ  not  deny,"  she  says,  "  that 
your  Excellence  is  taking  more  pleasure  in  seeing  my  little 
boy  every  day  than  I  am  getting  out  of  these  festivities," 
and  she  consoles  herself  by  sending  kiss  after  kiss  to  their 
puUifw.    As  to  the  Bacchides,  she  found  it  so  long  and  tedious 
that  she  wished  herself  many  times  at  Mantua.    "  It  seems 
to  me  a  thousand  years  till  I  am  there  again,  both  to  see  your 
Lordship  and  my  Uttle  son,  and  to  get  away  from  here,  where 
there  is  no  pleasure  in  the  world.    Your  Excellence  need  not 
envy  me  for  having  come  to  this  wedding,  because  it  has 
been  so  cold  an  affair  that  I  envy  those  who  have  remained 
at  Mantua."*    The  Casina,  she  said,  "  was  as  lascivious  and 
impure  as  one  can  say  "  ;  and  indeed  her  secretary,  Benedetto 
Capilupo,  writing  to  the  Marquis,  assured  him  that  she  had 
openly  shown  her  displeasure  during  the  performance,  and 
had  forbidden  any  of  her  damsels  to  be  present  at  it^ 

*  Cagnolo,  he.  cit.,  pp.  48-65;  Sanudo,o/>.  cii.,  iv.  coll.  225,  226; 
Gregorovius,  pp.  238-250. 

*  letters  of  February  3  and  5.     D'Arco,  op.  cit,  pp.  307, 3^- 
'  Luzio,  /  PreceUori  d' Isabella  (TEste,  pp.  36,  37. 

420 


THE  COMING  OF  MADONNA  LUCREZIA 

There  was,  however,  one  personage  who  enjoyed  himself 
immensely  throughout  these  days,  and  that  was  Monsignor 
the  ambassador  of  the  Most  Christian  King.    Every  one, 
but  especially  the  ladies,  courted  him  and  heaped  attentions 
upon  him.    On  the  Friday,  Febraary  4,  Ercole  came  with  a 
great  train  to  the  Palazzo  BentivogUo,  where  he  was  lodged, 
and  took  him  to  Santa  Caterina,  where,  after  hearing  Mass, 
they  had  mystical  talk  with  Lucia,  whose  wounds  were  that 
day  gushing  out  blood  afresh.    She  gave  him  some  pieces  of 
cloth  which  she  had  held  over  them,  and  then  the  Duke  took 
him  away  to  inspect  his  artillery.    The  next  day,  Monsignor 
gave  rich  presents  ;  to  the  Duke,  a  shield  of  gold  enamelled 
with  a  St.  Francis,  "  of  very  subtle  workmanship  of  Paris  "  ; 
to  Lucrezia,  a  golden  rosary  exquisitely  wrought ;  to  Alfonso 
and  Ferrando,  shields  like  the  Duke*s,  with  St.  Mary  Mag- 
dalene and  St.  Francis,  respectively ;    and  "  to  the  most 
illustrious  Madonna  Angela  Borgia,  a  most  elegant  damosel,** 
he  gave  "  a  chain  or  collar  of  gold,  most  subtly  worked  and 
of  notable  value."    That  evening,  there  being  no  state  ball 
or  performance,  IsabeDa  gave  a  little  supper  in  his  honour, 
the  Duchess  of  Urbino  being  the  chief  guest.    After  supper, 
"  the  Lady  Marchesana  herself  with  her  lute  in  hand  saxi^ 
several  canzonette,  with  the  greatest  melody  and  sweet- 
ness " ;  and  when,  after  an  hour's  secret  talk  in  her  chaml>er 
in  the  presence  of  two  of  her  damsels,  he  rose  to  take  his 
leave,  she  gave  him  the  gloves  which  she  had  on  her  hands, 
"  which  the  Lord  Ambassador  accepted  with  reverence  and 
love,  as  proceeding  from  that  most  sweet  fountain.    Verily, 
they  will  be  preserved  by  him  in  a  holy  place  even  unto  the 
consummation  of  the  world."  * 

*  Cagnolo,  he.  cit,,  pp.  52,  54-57- 
421 


DUKES  AND  POETS  IN  FERRARA  | 

The  next  momii^,  the  Sunday  of  the  carnival,  the  Duke 
sent  him  a  magnificent  golden  collar,  with  golden  pendants , 
set  with  rabies,  diamonds  and  large  pearls.    At  High  Mas  i 
in  the  Duomo  he  was  the  chief  personage  when  the  Bishop  i 
of  Camiola,  specially  deputed  from  Rome  for  the  purpose,  i 
confirmed  the  Ferrarese  duchy  to  Don  Alfonso,  placing  the 
ducal  cap  upon  his  head  and  the  blessed  sword  in  his  hands 
in  the  name  of  the  Pope.     It  was  noticed  that  neither  Duke 
Ercole  himself  nor  the  Venetian  orators  were  present. 

On  the  day  after  the  performance  of  the  last  comedy  (Ash 
Wednesday,  Febraary  9),  the  Venetian  orators  came  to  take 
their  leave  of  Lucrezia.  They  found  the  Marchesana  of 
Mantua  and  the  Duchess  of  Urbino  with  her,  and  took  the 
occasion  to  pay  their  farewell  visits  to  them  too,  with  the 
usual  ceremonious  observances  and  speeches  in  the  name  of 
the  Republic.  Isabella  promptly  answered  them  back  in 
kind,  "  with  such  great  elegance  and  prudence  that  it  would 
have  sufficed  for  every  consummate  orator,"  and  sounded  her 
husband's  praises  so  eloquently  that  all  that  heard  were 
astoimded.  Elisabetta  answered  wisely  in  her  turn.  But 
poor  Lucrezia,  probably  painfully  conscious  that  she  had 
neither  the  wit  nor  talent  of  her  two  rivals,  was  not  equaDy 
successful.  "  Although  she  has  had  to  do  with  more  men 
than  have  your  wife  and  sister,"  wrote  Capilupo  to  the 
Marquis,  "  she  got  nowhere  near  their  prudent  replies."* 

Duke  Ercole,  however,  appeared  more  than  satisfied  with 
the  way  the  whole  affak  of  the  marriage  had  been  carried 


*  Letter  of  February  9  from  CapUupo  to  the  Marquis  of  Mantna. 
Luzio,  /  Precettori  d* Isabella  (TEste,  pp.  36,  37.    By  a  printer's  error, 
it  is  dated  February  17,  in  Manlova  e  UrbinOy  pp.  rrfi  ^^5-     ^ 
secretary's  equivoque,  ha  praHcato  pitli  homini,  etc.,  is  of  cou 
intentional  and  malicious. 

422 


THE  COMING  OF  MADONNA  LUCREZIA 

through,  and  his  letter  to  the  Pope  may  be  taken  as  the 
final  reception  of  Alexander's  bastard  daughter  into  the 
noblest  and  proudest  House  of  Italy : — 

"  Before  the  most  illustrious  Duchess,  our  conunon  daugh- 
ter, arrived  here,  my  firm  intention  was  to  caress  her  and 
honour  her,  as  is  fitting,  and  not  to  fail  in  anything  per- 
taining to  singular  affection.    Now  that  her  Ladyship  has 
come  here,  she  has  so  satisfied  me,  by  the  virtues  and  worthy 
qualities  that  I  find  in  her,  that  not  only  am  I  confirmed  in 
this  good  disposition,  but  the  desire  and  intention  to  do  so 
have  greatly  increased  in  me  ;  and  so  much  the  more  as  I 
see  your  Holiness,  by  a  brief  in  your  own  hand,  lovingly  sug- 
gests this  to  me.    Let  your  Holiness  be  of  good  cheer, 
because  I  shall  treat  the  said  Duchess  in  such  wise  that  your 
Beatitude  may  know  that  I  hold  her  Ladyship  for  the  dearest 
thing  that  I  have  in  the  world."  * 

*  Letter  of  February  14,  1502.     Gregorovius,  document  38. 


423 


Chapter  XII 
THE   LAST   YEARS   OF   DUKE  ERCOLE 

THE  coming  of  the  Duchess  Lucrezia  was  the  last  great 
pageant  that  Ferrara  saw  for  more  than  a  quarter  of 
a  century.  It  was  the  turning  point  in  this  strange  woman's 
life.  Henceforth  she  appears  as  a  model  of  propriety, 
and  no  breath  of  scandal  again  soils  her  name.  She  had 
already  completely  gained  the  heart  of  the  old  Duke  and 
the  enthusiastic  admiration  of  her  new  subjects.  She 
conquered  the  aversion  of  her  husband  and  even,  to  some 
extent,  won  his  affection.  A  little  later,  that  model  of 
Christian  chivalry,  the  chevalier  Bayard,  and  his  French 
knights  exalted  her  as  the  ideal  of  noble  womanhood.  Wlien, 
after  seventeen  years,  Alfonso  announced  her  death  to 
Federigo  Gonzaga,  there  can  be  no  question  of  the  heart- 
felt sincerity  of  his  grief  for  the  loss  "  of  so  sweet  and  deara 
companion,  for  such  was  she  to  me,  by  reason  of  her  gracious 
character  and  the  tender  love  that  there  was  betwixt  us."^ 
Not  that  this  happy  result  was  immediately  obtained. 
Alfonso  at  first  made  no  pretence  of  being  faithful  to  his 
Borgian  bride,  nor  did  the  Pope  expect  it  of  him.  Once 
satisfied  that  the  two  continually  slept  together— the 
Borgias  evidently  dreading  lest  the  same  trick  should  be 

*  Letter  of  June  24,  15 19.     Gr^;orovius,  p.  336,    Cf.  Yriarte, 
Autour  des  Borgia,  p.  139. 

424 


THE  LAST  YEARS  OF  DUKE  ERCOLE 

played  upon  them  as  they  had  served  Giovanni  Sforza — 

his  Holiness  professed  himself  perfectly  contented,  and  saw 

no  objection  to  Alfonso,  for  the  rest,  taking  his  pleasure 

where  tie  chose/    And,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  Lucrezia  saw 

but  little  of  her  formidable  husband  in  these  first  years 

of  her  married  life  in  Ferrara.    Alfonso  was  either  absorbed 

in  his   favourite  mechanical  pursmts,  or  else  absent  from 

the  city,  travelling  in  Italy  and  France,  which  gave  him  a 

wider   outlook  upon  the  world  than  had  most  of  his  Italian 

contemporaries,  but  naturally  did  not  tend  to  make  him 

popular  with  his  future  subjects. 

We  have  already  met  the  son  of  the  Venetian  Visdomino, 
who  bad  come  to  inform  Ercole  and  Isabella  of  the  alliance 
between  France  and  the  Signoria.*    This  youth,  then  nineteen 
years  old,  was  no  other  than  Ketro  Bembo,  whose  father 
had  represented  Venice  in  Ferrara  since  1497,  and  who  was 
destined  in  after  years  to  play  the  part  by  turns  of  the 
Socrates  and  the  literary  dictator  of  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury-    Young  though  he  was,  he  was  already  a  leading 
figure  in  the  literary  circles  of  the  city,  when  the  new  Duchess 
came  to  Ferrara.    He  fell  madly  in  love  with  her,  and  she 
encouraged  his  devotion.    On  Lucrezia's  part,  indeed,  it 
seems  to  have  been  nothing  more  than  an  acceptance  of  the 
courtly  service  of  the  latter-day  troubadour  to  his  lady ; 
but  it  is  clear  that  Bembo's  worship  was  more  passionate, 

*  Cf.  the  extract  from  Beltrando  Costabili's  dispatch  of  April  i, 
1 502.  Gregorovius,  p.  267.  But,  after  an  illness  of  Lucrezia's  in  the 
summer  of  this  year,  Alfonso  went  to  Loreto  to  satisfy  a  vow  made 
to  the  Madonna  for  her  recovery.  He  had  vowed  to  go  on  foot,  but 
Ercole  had  him  dispensed  and  sent  in  a  ship.  Minute  Ducali  to 
Beltrando  Costabili,  October  9, 1 502 .  Archivio  di  Modena,  Minutario 
Cronologico. 

'  See  above,  p.  346,  note. 

425  E  E 


J 


DUKES  AND  POETS  IN  FERRARA 

and  Lucrezia  seems  to  have  received  letters  from  him  which  i 
would  have  seriously  compromised  both,  if  they  had  fallen 
into  the  hands  of  her  husband.*  More  frequently,  however, 
Angela  Borgia,  her  cousin  and  favourite  lady-in-waiting, 
appears  to  have  been  at  once  the  screen  of  the  poet's  love 
and  his  emissary  in  approaching  the  Duchess.  "They 
say,"  wrote  the  daring  lover,  when  absent  from  Ferrara, 
probably  at  Venice,  "  that  each  one  has  a  good  Angel  who 
prays  for  him.  I  pray  that  Angel,  who  can  pray  for  me, 
that  he  pray  to  FF  for  what  he  knows  that  I  need.  This 
much  know  I,  that  my  steadfast  and  pure  faith  desenes 
that  you  shotdd  be  the  friend  of  pity  towards  me.  For  if  1 
were  an  Angel,  as  he  is,  I  shotdd  be  seized  with  much  pity 
for  each  one  who  loved  in  the  way  that  I  love.  With  my 
heart  do  I  now  kiss  that  hand  of  yours  which  I  shall  soon 
come  to  kiss  with  the  mouth  that  ever  has  your  fair  name 
upon  it — ^nay,  rather,  with  this  soul,  that  would  in  that 
moment  come  to  my  lips  to  take  in  this  wise  a  sweet  ven- 
geance for  its  sweet  wound."*  But  though  Luaezia 
accepted  his  homage  and  even  came  to  his  bedside  to  visit 
him  in  an  illness,  she  had  no  thought  of  playing  Guenevere 
to  his  Lancelot. 

*  Bembo's  letters  to  Lucrezia  are  contained  in  vol.  viii.  of  the 
collected  edition  of  his  works  (Milan,  1805-13),  those  openly 
addressed  to  her  being  among  the  letters  "  a  Prindpesse  e  Signore 
ed  altre  Gentili  Donne  scritte,"  the  others  (numbered  only)  among 
the  "  lettere  giovenili  e  amorose."  Can  the  compromising  letter 
91,  dated  Venice,  February  10, 1503,  be  really  to  her  ? 

«  Letter  84.  FF  is  Lucrezia  ;  the  aUusion  to  an  Angd  in  the 
masculine,  as  a  different  person  from  the  recipient  of  the  letter,  is  an 
intentional  piece  of  mystification.  A  comparison  of  this  with  the 
other  letters  (e.g.  86)  makes  it  clear  that  it  is  addressed,  not  to 
Lucrezia  herself,  but  to  Angela.  We  may  here  remark  that  Angela 
Borgia  was  a  grand-daughter  of  the  Pope's  sister,  Juana,  and 
therefore  second  cousin  to  the  Duchess. 

426 


th:e  last  years  of  duke  ercole 

In   the  meanwhile,  Cesare  Borgia  was  not  hiding  his  one 
talexil:    in    the  earth.    At  the  beginning  of  June,  1502,  he 
had   yonng  Astorre  Manfredi  and  his  boy  brother  brutally 
mnrciered,    and  their  bodies  flung  into  the  Tiber.    Having 
tlins    "brought    the  succession  of  Faenza  to  a  satisfactory 
Conclusion,     he    suddenly  and  treacherously  invaded   the 
r>\ichy  of  Urhino.    The  whole  duchy  was  lost  in  a  day,  the 
fortress  of  San  Leo  alone  holding  out  for  a  few  weeks,  while 
Dnke  Gnidobaldo,  flying  for  his  life  \Yith  his  adopted  nephew 
and    heir,     the    little  Francesco  Maria  della  Rovere,   and 
hunted  from  place  to  place  like  a  felon,  escaped  to  Ravenna, 
and   thence,    through  the  Ferrarese  territory,  to  Mantua. 
There  he  found  the  Marquis  "  so  affectionate  that  one  could 
not  desire  more."  *    Isabella  indeed,  on  the  first  news  of  the 
conquest  of  XJrbino,  attempted  to  obtain  for  herself  a  share 
of  the  spoils,  in  the  shape  of  a  marble  Venus  and  a  Cupid, 
which,  she   said,  she  was  sure  that  Cesare  could  spare  her, 
•'  understanding  that  his  Excellence  does  not  take  much 
delight   in   antiquities  "  ;  *  but  she  was  most  kind  to  both 
Guidobaldo     and  Elisabetta,  and   put   pressure   upon  her 
husband  to  use  all  his  influence  with  the  King  of  France  on 
their  behalf,  -while  he  was  in  attendance  upon  him  at  Milan. 
A  few  days  later  she  wrote,  wild  with  sudden  terror,  hearing 
that  he  had  spoken  ill  of  the  Borgia  in  the  presence  of  the 
King  and  of  some  of  the  papal  agents,  to  implore  him  to  take 
all  possible  precautions  lest  Cesare  should  have  him  poisoned 
tor   his  words.    For  her  sake  and  for  that  of  their  child 
(^Cesare' s  own  god-son,  be  it  observed !),  let  him  be  more 

*   Guidobaldo  describes  his  escape  in  a  long  letter  of  June  28, 
I  ^02,  irom  Mantua  to  the  Cardinal  GiuUano.    Alvisi,  document  60. 
«  Letter  of  June  30, 1502,  to  the  Cardinal  Ippolito.    Ibid.,  docu- 
xnc^nt  61  • 

427 


DUKES  AND  POETS  IN  FERRARA 

careful  at  table  and  have  his  food  properly  tasted.  "My  1 
Lord,  do  not  make  mock  of  this  letter  of  mine,  nor  say  thai 
women  are  cowardly  and  always  afraid ;  for  the  malignit) 
of  these  men  is  far  greater  than  my  fear  or  your  Lord- 
ship's courage."  * 

Remembering  her  own  happy  visit  to  Urbino  on  her  way 
to  Ferrara  a  few  months  before,  Lucrezia  expressed  the 
greatest  sorrow  at  the  misfortunes  of  Guidobaldo  and  Elfea- 
betta,  and  protested  that,  to  the  utmost  of  her  power,  die 
would  never  fail  them."    Ercole,  however,  would  not  commit 
himself.     "  You  wiU  have  heard,*'  he  wrote  to  Alfonso,  who, 
like  the  Marquis  of  Mantua,  was  with  the  King  at  Milan, 
"  of  the  acquisition  which  the  most  illustrious  Duke  of 
Romagna  has  made  of  the  Duchy  of  Urbino.    It  can  well  he 
that  men  speak  variously  of  this  affair  there,  as  also  they . 
do  here.    We  have  therefore  thought  well  to  warn  you  that,  j 
if  you  speak  about  it,  you  speak  in  such  a  way  that  you  do 
not  offend  the  Most  Christian  Majesty  or  any  of  his  friends. 
nor  the    said    most   illustrious   Duke  of  Romagna;  tat 
with  modesty  and  wisely,  so  that  no  one  can  take  excep- 
tion to  what  you  say,  and  according  as  in  your  prudence 
you  shall  know  what  to  do,  you  being  there  on  the  spot."' 

France  and  Spain  were  now  about  to  rend  eadi  other 
for  the  spoils  of  conquered  Naples.  Ercole,  who,  besides 
sending  Alfonso  and  Sigismondo,  had  personally  met  and 
paid  his  homage  to  King  Louis  in  the  short  visit  that  the 
latter  had  made  to  the  Milanese  duchy  this  summer,  natur- 

*  Letter  of  July  23,  1502.     Luzio  and  Renier,  Mantova  e  L>fc'«^i 

PP-  136,  137. 

'  Luzio  and  Renier,  op.  cit.,  p.  125. 

a  Minute  Ducali  of  June  30,  1502.  Archivio  di  Modena,  Cctrttiti^ 
dH  Principi, 

428 


THE   LAST  YEARS  OF  DUKE  ERCOLE 

lUy  attaolied  himself  to  the  side  of  France.      By  a  letter 
dated    from    Milan,  on  September  22,  the  King  invested 
"  our  well-beloved  kinsman,  the  Duke  of  Ferrara,"  with  the 
town    of     Cottignola— very  much   against  the  will  of  the 
inhabitants.     They  made  a  hostile  demonstration  against 
the  dixcal  commissary  when  he  entered  the  town,  on  October 
25  ;  the  contadini  joined  with  the  townsfolk,  men,  women 
and  children,  in  shouting  "  Franza,  Franza,"  until  the  royal 
procurator,   Cesare  Guaschi,  reassured  them  by  a  glowing 
account   of  the  clemency  and  benignity  of  Ercole's  rule.^ 
Their  special  fear  seems  to  have  been  lest  they  should  be 
put  under  the  commissary  of  Lugo,  or  some  other  Ferrarese 
o&icial  in  Romagna.     In  the  following  year,  Ercole  sent  some 
six  thousand  balestrieri  and   men-at-arms  to  Mantua,  to 
join  the  royal  army  that  was  being  gathered  in  Lombardy 
under  Gonzaga's  command ;  and,  although  broken  in  health, 
he  went   himself  to  Parma  to  confer  with  the  commander- 
in-chief,  la   Tr6noille.     The   Ferrarese  contingent,  under 
Giulio  Tassoni  and  others,  was  in  the  French  army  that, 
at  the  end  of  1503,  Gonsalvo  crushed  at  the  Garigliano. 

Lucrezia  had  by  this  time  completely  settled  down  in  her 
position  as  Duchess  of  Ferrara — the  title  already  given  to 
her  in  anticipation  by  all  the  Court  and  by  Duke  Ercole 
himself-  At  the  carnival  of  1503,  when  the  Menaechmi  was 
represented,  the  chroniclers  describe  her  as  sitting  by  the 
Duke's  side,  "most  ornately  attired,  with  great  jewels." 


*  See  documents  in  Alvisi,  pp.  540,  541 .  Ercole  had  previously 
instructed  his  envoy  to  ask  the  King  for  Cottignola,  on  the  plea 
that,  although  it  was  held  by  the  Duchy  of  Milan,  it  had  paid 
no  taxes  to  Milan,  and  had  formerly  belonged  to  the  Estensi. 
Isiruzione  per  Francia  a  Giovanni  Valla,  August  2g,  1500.  Archivio 
di  Modena,  Carieggio  degli  Ambasciatori — Francia. 

429 


DUKES  AND  POETS  IN  FERRARA 

The  Holy  Week  of  this  year  was  celebrated  with  mucli 
solemnity,  as  was  alwa)rs  done  in  Ferrara  when  the  conditions 
of  Italy  were  more  than  usually  disturbed  and  threatening. 
On  Maundy  Thursday,  April  13,  the  Duke  gave  a  sumptu- 
ous dinner  to  a  hundred  and  fifty  poor  men  in  the  Sala 
Grande  of  the  Palace,  himself  with  his  sons  and  chief  cour- 
tiers waiting  upon  them  at  ^able.      Afterwards,  on  te 
knees,  he  washed  and  wiped  the  feet  of  all,  and  gave  them 
presents  of  clothes  and  money,  while  his  choristers  sang  the 
antiphons  prescribed  by  the  Church,  begimiing  with  the 
mandatum  novum :  "  A  new  commandment  I  give  unto 
you  :  that  you  love  one  another,  as  I  have  loved  you,  saith 
the  Lord."    On  Good  Friday,  after  the  sermon  and  Mass, 
the  whole  Passion  of  Christ  was  represented  on  a  great 
stage  erected  in  the  Duomo,  Lucrezia  and  her  ladies  sitting 
with  Ercole  on  a  raised  platform  opposite.    Near  the  roof  a 
Heaven  had  been  constructed,  which  opened  and  from  which 
an  Angel  descended  with  the  chahce  to  Christ  who  prayed 
in  the  Garden.     Before  the  high  altar  was  Mount  Calvai), 
with  the  Crucifixion.     At  the  other  end  of  the  stage  was  the 
mouth  of  HeU,  in  the  form  of  the  head  of  a  gigantic  serpent, 
out  of  which  trooped  the  ducal  choristers,  robed  as  the 
fathers  in  Limbo,  "  sweetly  singing  lauds."    "Everything 
was  done  in  praiseworthy  fashion.    It  lasted  five  hours,  with 
much  devotion."* 

A  few  days  after  Easter,  Isabella  came  from  Mantua* 
received  by  Lucrezia  with  aU  possible  demonstrations  0 
love  and  affection.    There  were  more  miracle-plays  F 
formed  in  the  Duomo,  at  which  the  two  ladies  and  the  D  J 
were  present.    The  Annunciation,  in  which  the  Angel 

*  Zambotto,  ff.  389V,  y^* 
430 


THE  LAST  YEARS  OF  DUKE  ERCOLE 

descended  to  the  Blessed  Virgin  in  a  wonderful  rain  of  light, 
especially  moved  Isabella's  not  too  facile  admiration,  and 
it  was  followed  by  the  Visitation  to  St.  Elizabeth  and  the 
Dream  of  Joseph.    The  whole  was  in  much  the  same  style 
as    the   representation   on   Good   Friday  had   been.     On 
another  day,  they  had  the  Adoration  of  the  Magi  and  the 
Massacre  of  the  Innocents.^    In  consequence  of  the  recent 
death  of  the  Duke's  half-brother,  Rinaldo   d'  Este,  the 
customary  horse-race  for  the  feast  of  St.  George,  April  24, 
was  not  run ;  but  Ercole  instead  gave  the  prize,  the  polio 
of  gold  brocade,  "  to  the  monastery  of  the  sisters  of  Santa 
Caterina  where  Suora  Lucia  of  the  Stigmata  lives."  '    The 
Duke  was  much  concerned  with  Lucia's  wants  and  wishes 
in  this  year,  and  was  in  correspondence  with  his  nephew, 
the  Bishop  of  Adria,  on  the  subject.    On  Jime  18,  we  find 
him  writing  to  the  latter  at  Viterbo,  inclosing  a  communi- 
cation "which  is  of  very  great  importance,"  to  be  sent 
on  instantly    with   all  speed  to  Bartolommeo  Bresciano 
at    Nami.      The  mysterious    inclosure,    treated  thus    as 
though  it  were  an  urgent  political  document,  is  simply 
this:— 

"Herewith  we  send  thee  a  letter  that  the  mother  Suora 
Lucia  writes  to  Suora  Anna ;  we  would  have  thee  give  it 
to  her  instantly,  and  from  it  you  will  see  all  that  she  writes 


1  Letter  from  Isabella  d*  Este  to  the  Marquis  of  Mantua,  April 
24,  1503.    D'Arco,  Noiizie,  pp.  310,  311  ;  Zambotto,  fE.  391*'.  392- 

^Zambotto,  £.  392.  In  the  previous  February,  Berardo  da 
Recanati,  physician  of  the  Pope  and  bishop-elect  of  Venosa,  had 
examined  the  stigmata  in  the  presence  of  Ercole,  Lucrezia,  the  papal 
vicar-general  Pietro  Gambo,  and  Gugliehno  Raunondo  (a  nephew 
of  Alexander),  and  reported  that  they  had  all  been  profoundly 
edified  by  Lucia's  conversation.  Document  in  Giacomo  Marcianese, 
Narratione,  pp.  204-207,  and  Ponsi,  op.  cit.,  pp.  216-219. 

43^ 


J 


DUKES  AND  POETS  IN   FERRARA 

to  her.     Wlierefore,  we  will  and  commit  to  you  that  you 
should  execute  all  that  is  contained  in  that  letter." ' 

Although  the  Cardinal  Juan  Borgia  held   the  Bishopric 
of  Feirara,  he  never  set  foot  in  the  city.     On  bad  terms 
with  his  papal  uncle,  he  still  remained  in  Rome,  heaping  up 
wealth.    Paolo  Cappello  had  told   the  Venetians  that  tlx 
Cardinal  "  would  gladly  lead  the  life  of  a  merchant ;  he 
would  like  to  have  thirty  thousand  ducats  on  his  desk, 
and  lend  them  out  at  usury.    He  is  most  miserly ;  he  thinks 
much  of  a  ducat."  *    This  was  a  dangerous  kind  of  life 
to  lead  in  the  Rome  of  the  Borgias,  especially  when  the  Pope 
was  your  heir  and  Cesare  needed  money  for  his  mercenary 
soldiers,  to  complete  his  conquest  of  the  rebellious  feudatories 
of  the  Chiurch.    At  the  beginning  of  August,  the  Cardinal 
suddenly  died,  and  the  Pope  succeeded  to  the  vast  wealth 
that  he  had  left  behind  him.     Antonio  Giustinian,  wto 
had  replaced  Cappello  as  Venetian  orator  in  Rome,  wrote 
to  the  Doge  that  it  was  believed  that  the  Cardinal  had  been 
poisoned  by  Cesare.^    His  nephew,  Gughelmo  Raimondo, 
the  captain  of  the  Palatine  Guard,  died  about  the  same 
time.    From  a  window  of  the  Vatican,  Alexander  watched 

*  Archivio  di  Modena,  Minutario  Cronologico,  June  18,  150J 
The  phrasing  is  a  little  ambiguous,  but  I  take  it  that  it  is  from 
the  letter  and  not  from  Anna  that  Bresciano  is  to  have  the  explana- 
tion. Lucia's  letter  has  not  been  preserved,  but  presumably  it  was 
about  getting  more  nuns,  as  there  had  been  fresh  desertions  from  tnc 
convent. 

*  Sanudo,  Diarii,  iii.  col.  843. 

'Dispatches  of  August  2  and  3,  1503.  Dispacd  di  Antonto 
Giustinian,  ii.  pp.  92-94.  "  It  is  publicly  afl&rmed  that  he  too, 
has  been  sent  by  the  way  along  which  have  gone  all  the  others, 
after  they  have  grown  right  plump,  and  the  fault  of  this  is  laid  to  tfic 
Duke's  door."  The  Cardinal  Michiel  had  certainly  been  poisonea 
by  Cesare  in  the  previous  year,  and  possibly  the  Cariinai  Fcrra/i- 
Cf.  Pastor,  iii.  pp.  464-466. 

432 


THE  LAST  YEARS  OF  DUKE  ERCOLE 

the  funeral  procession.  "This  month  is  deadly  for  fat 
people/'  he  muttered.  A  dark  bird  of  some  kind  flew  in  to 
the  room,  and  fell  down  at  his  feet.  The  terrified  Pontiff 
fled  into  his  bedroom,  repeating  again  and  again  :  "  An  evil 
omen,  an  evil  omen  is  this."  * 

A  fortnight  later,  a  thrill  of  exultation  ran  through  all 

in  Italy  who  looked  for  righteousness.     Pope   Alexander 

VI  was  dead.    He  died  on  August  i8,  of  a  fever  contracted 

at  the  famous  supper  at  the  villa  of  the  Cardinal  of  Cometo; 

and  Cesare  himself  lay  at  death's  door.    The  contemporaiy 

legend  of  the  two,  father  and  son,  having  been  poisoned 

by  the  wine  that  they  had  prepared  for  their  host,  is  now 

rejected  by  all  serious  historians— relegated  to  the  same 

category  as  the  wonderful  account  given  by  the  Marquis  of 

Mantua  to  IsabeUa  of  how  the  devil  in  person  had  come  to 

claim  the  soul  of  his  creature,  who  had  sold  himself  to  him 

for  the  Popedom  and  whose  time  was  now  expired.* 

Ercole  was  usually  cautious  in  his  written  utterances, 
but  this  time  he  spoke  plamly.  "  To  make  thee  clear  about 
that  which  thou  art  asked  by  many,"  he  wrote  to  Gian 
Giorgio  Seregnio,  his  ambassador  at  Milan,  "  whether  we  are 
sorry  for  the  death  of  the  Pope,  we  assure  thee  thafit  does  not 
displease  us  in  any  respect ;  on  the  contrary,  for  the  honour 
of  our  Lord  God  and  for  the  universal  utility  of  Christen- 
dom, we  have  for  a  long  while  desired  that  the  Divine 
goodness  and  providence  should  give  us  a  good  and  exem- 
plary pastor,  and  that  so  great  a  scandal  should  be  taken 
away  from  the  Church.  Nor  could  our  own  private  interests 
make  us  desire  otherwise,  because  the  honour  of  God  and  the 
universal  weal  will  preponderate  with  us.    But  we  teU  thee 

^Sigismondode'Conti,  ii.  p.  267;  Yriaxte,  Cisar  Borgia,  ii.p:  152. 
^Gr^orovius,  document  49. 

433 


Ii 


DUKES  AND  POETS  IN  FERRARA 

further  that  never  was  there  a  Pope  from  whom  we  had  not 
more  favour  and  satisfaction  than  from  this,  even  after 
the  affinity  contracted  with  him  ;  we  have  only  and  hardly 
had  what  he  was  bound  to,  for  which  we  did  not  depend 
upon   his  faith ;  in  nothing  else,  great  or  small,  have  ^ 
been  gratified  by  him.    This  we  believe  to  have  come  about 
in  great  part  through  the  fault  of  the  Duke  of  Romagna, 
who,  because  he  could  not  use  us  as  he  would  have  wished, 
has  treated  us  as  a  stranger,  nor  ever  been  open  with  us  nor 
communicated  his  proceedings  to   us ;   neither  have  we 
communicated  ours  to  him.    And  latterly,  since  he  incline 
to  the  Spaniards  and  sees  us  loyal  to  France,  we  have  never 
hoped  for  any  advantage  either  from  the  Pope  or  from  his 
Lordship.    Therefore  we  are  not  sorry  for  this  death,  and 
were  expecting  nothing  but  evil  from  the  greatness  of  the 
said  Lord  Duke.    We  wish  you  to  communicate  this  our 
secret  exactly  to  the  Lord  Grand  Master,*  as  we  would  not 
have  our  mind  concealed  from  his   Lordship;  but  speak 
discreetly  about  it  to  others,  and  then  send  back  this  letter 
to  the  reverend  Messer  Gian  Luca  our  counsellor."* 

Lucrezia's  position  at  Ferrara  was  not  a  pleasant  one  at 
this  juncture — and  was  only  rendered  tolerable  by  the  tact 
and  kindness  of  Ercole.  The  King  of  France  openly  hinted 
that  she  might  be  repudiated.  "  I  know,"  he  said  to  the 
Ferrarese  ambassador,  "  that  you  have  never  been  pleased 
at  that  marriage ;  this  Madama  Lucrezia  is  not  even  the 
effective  wife  of  Don  Alfonso."  ^  She  probably  heard  some- 
thing of  the  horrible  stories  of  her  father's  death  that  spread 
through  Italy,  and  certainly  reahzed  the  danger  in  which 

*  Chaumont,  the  French  governor  of  Milan. 

*  Letter  of  August  24,  1503.     Gregorovius,  docimeat  4^- 
^  Gregorovius,  pp.  274,  275. 

434 


THE  LAST  YEARS  OF  DUKE  ERCOLE 


her  "brother  was.  Bembo  has  painted  in  touching  words 
her  api>eajrance  in  the  first  burst  of  her  misery,  in  her  dark- 
ened room,  robed  in  black  and  with  the  marks  of  abundant 
Aveeping  on  her  face.^  But  no  ungenerous  thoughts  seem 
to  have  found  place  in  the  hearts  of  the  Estensian  sovereigns. 
In  spite  of  \vhat  he  had  written  to  Milan,  Ercole  lent  ear  to 
Cesaxe's  a,pp>eal  through  the  Ferrarese  ambassador  in  Rome, 

and seeing  that  the  only  choice  was  between  him  and  the 

Venetians — ^sent   Pandolfo  CoUenuccio   into  Romagna    to 
prevail  lapon  his  subjects  to  remain  faithful.    Nevertheless, 
Duke  Gnidobaldo  returned  to  Urbino  and  Giovanni  Sforza 
re-entered  Pesaro  in  triumph.    At  the  beginning  of  Septem- 
ber, Cesare  was  conveyed  in  a  litter  to  Nepi,  where  he  put 
himself  under  the  protection  of  the  army  of  France,  which 
was  in  the  neighbourhood  under  the  nominal  command  of 
the  Marquis  of  Mantua.    A  few  days  later,  Ercole  wrote  to 
congratulate  him  on  his  convalescence  and  on  his  wisdom 
in  throMning  in  his  lot  with  the  French.     "  As  to  your  affairs 
in  Romagna,"  he  wrote,  "  we  have  sent  a  suitable  person 
to  those  peoples,  to  do  what  your  Lordship,  before  you  left 
Rome,  had  us  besought  by  the  letters  of  our  ambassador 
there,  to  keep  their  minds  well  disposed  and  steadfast  in  their 
devotion  to  youx  Excellence.    As  you  will  have  heard,  our 
men-at-arms  are  in  the  camp  of  the  Most  Christian  King. 
We    axe   certain  that  the  authority  and  will  of  his  Most 
Cliristian    Majesty  will   make  such   provision   that   your 
Lordship,  where  need  shall  arise,  will  be  succoured  by  his 
protection."  * 

^  Letter  to  the  Duchess,  of  August  22,  1503  {Opere,  vol.  vizi. 
pp.  5-7)-  C^-  Canello,  Storia  delta  LeUeraiufa  Itdlidna  nd  secolo  xvi., 
p.  24,  for  real  date  of  the  letter. 

»  Letter  of  September  15,  1503,  from  Codigoro.     Alvisi,  op.  cit,, 
pp.  581 »  582. 

435 


DUKES  AND  POETS  IN  FERBIARA 

In  the  downfall  of  her  House,  Lucrezia's  little  son  Rodrigi 
had  lost  his  duchy,  and  even  his  life  was  threatened.  Th€ 
Cardinal  of  Cosenza,  his  guardian,  proposed  to  sell  aD  te 
goods  and  convey  him  in  safety  to  Spain.  Ercole,  in  a  very 
kind  and  fatherly  letter,  urged  Lucrezia  to  agree  to  the 
Cardinal's  proposals: — 

"  We  have  had  the  letter  of  your  Ladyship,  together  wiifc 
that  of  Monsignor  the  most  reverend  Cardinal  of  Cosenza 
directed  to  you,  which  you  have  sent  us,  which  we  send  back 
to  you  with  this  of  ours,  and  which  has  not  been  read  by  any 
person  save  by  us ;  and  we  have  noted  the  very  prudent 
writing  of  your  Lad3^hip  and  of  the  said  most  reverend 
Cardinal,  who  is  moved  by  so  many  good  reasons  that  one 
cannot  but  judge  that  he  is  loving  and  wise.    Wherefore, 
after  considering  the  whole,  it  seems  to  us  that  your  Lady- 
ship can  and  ought  to  consent  to  all  that  the  said  most 
reverend  Monsignor  proposes  to  do.     We  think  that  your 
Ladyship  owes  him  some  gratitude,  for  the  demonstration 
and  proof  of  so  much  cordial  love  that  he  clearly  beats  to 
you  and  to  the  most  illustrious  Don  Rodorico  your  son, 
who,  one  can  say,  has  been  preserved  in  Ufe  by  his  means. 
And  although  Don  Rodorico  will  be  somewhat  severed  from 
your  Ladyship,  it  is  better  to  be  so  far  away  and  safe,  than 
near  with  the  danger  in  which  he  evidently  would  be ;  nor, 
because  of  this  distance,  will  the  love  between  you  be  at  all 
diminished.    When  he  has  grown  up,  he  will  be  able  accord- 
ing to  the  condition  of  the  times  to  decide  on  his  own  course, 
whether  to  return  to  Italy  or  to  stay ;  and  it  is  a  good  pro- 
vision which  Monsignor  the  Cardinal  suggests,  to  sell 
movable   goods  and  purchase  there,  to  supply  bis  needs, 
increasing  his  income,  as  he  says  he  will  do.    Where  o  ; 
on  every  consideration,  as  we  have  said,  it  seems  o 

436 


THE  LAST  YEARS  OF  DUKE  ERCOLE 

that  it  is  well  to  agree  to  his  will.  Nevertheless  if  to  your 
Ladyship,  who  is  most  prudent,  it  should  seem  otherwise,  we 
yield   to  your  better  judgment."  ^ 

Needless  to  say  that  Ercole  was  profoundly  interested  in 
the  election  of  a  successor  to  Pope  Alexander.    It  would 
have  been  the  first  conclave  in  which  a  member  of  the  House 
of  Este  had  taken  part ;  but  Ippolito  fell  from  his  horse  on 
the  -way  to  Rome,  and  was  laid  up  at  Florence.     Ercole,  by 
letters  to  Bartolommeode'Cavallieri  and  to  King  Louis  him- 
self,  pledged  his  son  to  do  his  utmost  for  the  election  of  "  a 
good  pastor  and  one  that  would  please  the  Most  Christian 
Majesty,"  but  regretted  that  Ippolito's  fall  would  make  it 
impossible  for  him  actually  to  vote.*    He  wrote  to  him  from 
Belriguardo,  that  he  had  heard  from  the  Grand  Master 
(Chaumont)  at  Milan  that  the  King  wished  to  do  all  that  was 
possible  to  secure  the  election  of  the  Cardinal  of  Rouen,  "  in 
which  his  Majesty  and  the  said  Grand  Master  desire  your 
vote  and  your  work."    Although  the  news  of  his  accident 
has   reached  Milan,  Chaumont  still  seems  to  hope  that 
Ippolito  can  have  himself  brought  to  Rome  in  time  for  the 
conclave.    "  It  would  please  us  much  if  your  most  reverend 
Lordship  were  in  such  a  state  that  you  could  do  it,  because 
this  is  a  very  great  occasion  to  be  able  to  satisfy  the  Most 
Christian  Majesty  and  the  most  reverend  and  most  illustrious 
Monsignor  the  Legate."    But,  if  he  really  cannot  move, 
let  him  pay  all  the  honour  that  he  possibly  can  to  the  Car- 
dinals of  the  French  faction  (the  Legate  Amboise  himself, 

*  Letterof  October  4,  from  Codigoro .  Archivio  di  Modena,  Carieggto 
dei  PHndpi.  It  is  not  quite  accurately  transcribed  in  Gregorovius, 
document  50. 

^  Minute  Ducali  of  August  28,  1503.  Archivio  di  Modena, 
Minutario  Cronologico. 

437 


DUKES  AND  POETS  IN  FERRARA 

Ascanio  Sforza,  who  had  been  released  from  his  Frend 
captivity  on  condition  of  supporting  Amboise's  candidature, 
and  the  Cardinal  of  Aragon)  when  they  pass  through  Florence, 
"  not  omitting  to  inform  his  most   illustrious  and  most 
reverend  Lordship  of  what  you  were  going  to  do  in  favour 
of  his  election,  and  also  that  you  had  been  exhorted  about 
this  by  us,  and  that  we  had  bidden  you  follow  and  do  all  that 
you  understood  to  be  the  will  of  the  Most  Christian  King."* 
Finding  his  own  elevation  impossible,  the  Cardinal  of 
Rouen  supported  the  nomination  of  the  excellent  old  Cardinal 
of  Siena,  Francesco  Piccolomini,  who  was  elected  Pope  on 
September  22,  and  took  the  title  of  Pius  III,  in  memory  of 
his  uncle.    The  new  Pontiff  had  alwa}^  shown  himself  most 
friendly  towards  the  Estensi,  and  the  Duke  and  Cardinal 
shared  in  the  general  satisfaction.    Ercole  wrote  to  implore 
Ippohto  to  send  him  every  minute  detail  of  the  way  in  which 
the  election  had  been  carried  out.     "  Suppose  that  we  know 
nothing  about  it,  and  that  we  wotdd  fain  understand  it  and 
see  it  as  if  we  had  been  present.    Assume  that  we  are  entirely 
ignorant  of  this  elevation,  and  that  we  must  needs  be  in- 
formed about  it  from  the  alpha  to  the  omega."  *   By  a 
brief  dated  October  8,  the  day  of  his  own  coronation,  the 
new  Pontiff  conferred  upon  IppoUto  the  vacant  bishopric  ot 
Ferrara.    Ten  days  later,  to  the  genuine  grief  of  all  Rome, 
Pius  died. 

Ercole  was  quite  resolved,  for  once,  to  have  a  voice  m 
the  election  of  the  new  Pontiff.  He  dispatched  a  long  letter 
to  IppoUto — who  was,  by  now,  sufficiently  recovered  from 

1  Minute  to  IppoUto  of  August  29,  1503.  Archivio  di  Modem, 
Carteggio  dei  Pnncipi,  It  wiU  be  remembered  that  the  Cardinal 
Amboise  of  Rouen  was  Papal  Legate  in  France. 

*  Minute  Ducali  of  September  24,  1503.  Archivio  di  Modena, 
Carteggio  dei  Principi. 

438 


THE  LAST  YEARS  OF  DUKE  ERCOLE 

his  fall — concerning  the  vote  he  was  to  give  in  the  coming 
conclave.     "We  make  first  a  general  presupposition,"  he 
writes,  **  that  we  should  not  be  pleased  at  the  election  of  a 
Cardinal  who  was  not  an  Italian ;  and,  therefore,  your  Lord- 
ship, if  you  wish  to  conform  with  our  views,  must  not  give 
your  voice  to  any  one  who  is  not  an  Italian,  excepting  the 
most  reverend  Cardinal  of  Rouen,  who,  it  cannot  be  denied, 
is  out  of  the  question  for  the  causes  known  to  your  Lord- 
ship."    Among  the  Italians,  he  would  greatly  like  Naples 
(Caraffa),  Santa  Prassede  (Pallavicino),  or  the  Cardinal  of 
Alessandria  (San  Giorgio) ;  but  Ippolito  must  be  careful  not 
to  offend  Amboise  by  his  vote.    He  is  to  do  what  he  can,  in 
an  underhand  way,  against  the  Cardinal  of  San  Pietro  in 
Vincoh,  Giuliano  della  Rovere.    "  If  Rouen  should  use  his 
power  for  San  Pietro  in  Vincoli,  you  can  warn  him  that 
San  Pietro  in  Vincoli  has  always  been  most  friendly  to  the 
Venetians,  and  they  have  more  confidence  in  him  and  would 
favour  him  more  than  any  other  Cardinal,  and  they  have  had 
the  votes  of  Grimani  and  Comaro  given  him,  as  you  know, 
and  that  therefore  it  is  to  be  feared  that,  if  he  be  made  Pope, 
he  will  not  be  a  good  Frenchman,  but  rather  a  Venetian." 
He  is,  therefore^  to  dissuade  Amboise  from  this  course — as  also 
because  Giuliano  is  opposed  to  Ercole  himself  m  the  matter 
of  Cento  and  Pieve  (which  the  Duke  was  still  trjong  to  get 
separated  from  the  diocese  of  Bologna).     But  "  in  the  case 
that  your  Lordship  should  see  that  the  lot  has  to  fall  to  him, 
and  that  your  vote  could  not  prevent  it,  we  should  praise 
you  if  you  could  give  what  you  could  not  sell,  that  is,  if 
you  should  gratify  him  by  voting  for  him."    But  he  must 
first  speak  with  the  Cardinal  of  Rouen,  and  be  guided  by  his 
wishes  and  intentions.* 

*  Minute  of  October  23,  1503.     Archivio  di  Modena,  Minutario 

439 


DUKES  AND  POETS  IN  FERRARA 

Ippolito,  however,  had  but  one  course  open  to  him.  1 
conclave  was  the  shortest  in  the  whole  history  of  the  Papa 
On  the  very  day  that  it  opened,  October  31,  Giuliano  df 
Rovere  was  practically  unanimously  elected  Pope,  and  tc 
the  title  of  Julius  II.  By  magnanimous  promises  (which, 
we  shall  see,  he  did  not  keep),  he  had  bought  the  support 
Cesare  Borgia,  who  commanded  the  votes  of  the  Spani 
Cardinals,  and  the  election,  though  less  scandalously  co 
ducted,  was  hardly  less  simoniacal  than  had  been  that 
GiuUano's  hated  enemy,  Alexander  VI.*  Ippolito  had  givi 
his  vote  with  such  grace  and  dexterity,  that  all  parties  k 
been  pleased,  and  his  father  was  greatly  delighted  with  \\ 
entire  conduct  in  this  emergency.  "  We  could  not  hai 
felt  greater  satisfaction,''  he  writes,  "  and  we  think  thi 
your  Lordship  has  this  time  shown  the  good  talent  ai 
dexterity  that  you  have.  We  commend  you,  and,  if  o\ 
interests  were  not  yours,  and  yours  ours,  we  should  thai 
you."  * 

The  newly  created  Pontiff  received  Ippolito's  first  act  i 
homage  with  much  graciousness,  and  declared  that  he  ha 
always  been  a  staunch  friend  to  the  Estensi.  He  professe 
special  anxiety  to  see  his  godson,  Don  Ferrando,  who  ha 
indeed  started  from  Ferrara  for  Rome  with  a  few  horseme 

Cronohgico.  The  next  day,  Ercole  sent  an  "'gent  mttsage,  ^ 
haste,  to  Ippolito,  bidding  him  by  aU  means  go  to  the  co  ^ 
*•  especiaJly  as  the  Cardinal  of  Rouen  urges  you  to  this  an  ^^^ 
out  the  instructions  in  his  former  letter.  Letter  of  October  24- 
CarUggio  dei  Principi,  Outside,  to  encourage  the  councis,  a  ^^ 
is  drawn,  with  the  suggestive  words  sub  poena  furcarum, 
— cito. 

*  See  Pastor,  iii.  pp.  520-522.  /-^^ 

a  Letter  of  November  5,  1503.    Archivio  di  Modena, 
dei  Principi, 

440 


THE  LAST  YEARS  OF  DUKE  ERCOLE 

as  soon  as  the  news  of  the  election  had  reached  him.  The 
official  Ferrarese  embassy,  to  join  with  Bdtrando  Costabili, 
the  ordinary  ambassador  at  the  Papal  Court,  in  presenting 
the  Duke's  congratulations,  arrived  a  little  later ;  it  included 
Gian  Luca  Pozzi,  Antonio  Costabili,  and  Giovanni  Fran- 
cesco Maria  Rangoni. 

The  Venetians  had  taken  advantage  of  Cesare's  broken 
fortunes  to  occupy  as  many  towns  in  Romagna  as  they  could 
lay  hands  on,  under  the  plea  of  liberating  these  places  from 
the  tyranny  of  the  Borgia ;  "  with  great  offence  to  God,"  as 
the  Pope  put  it,  "  and  injury  to  us  and  to  this  Holy  See." 
Fano,  Faenza  and  Rimini  surrendered  to  their  forces  in 
succession,  while  Cesare's  agents  still  held  Forlimpopoli  and 
the  citadels  of   Bertinoro,  Forli  and  Cesena.     The  Pope 
remonstrated   with    the    Venetian    ambassador,    Antonio 
Giustinian,  insisting  that  all  those  places  must  be  restored 
to  the  Church ;  in  a  strongly-worded  letter  to  the  Doge, 
Leonardo  Loredan,  he  declared  that  nothing  could  make  him 
swerve  from  this  resolution,  and  that  no  composition  was 
possible.^    When  Cesare  refused  to  surrender  what  was  left 
to  him,  he  had  him  arrested  and  brought  to  Rome  as  a 
prisoner.    Julius  at  first  appears  to  have  thought  of  handing 
him  over  to  Ercole,  to  be  kept  at  Ferrara  until  he  had  the 
citadels  in  his  hands.    But  Ercole  gave  an  evasive  answer, 
said  that  he  must  first  know  what  he  would  have  to  do  if 
the  Valentino  did  not  yield  up  the  fortresses  in  accordance 
with  his  promise — his  real  motive  being,  according  to  the 
Venetian  ambassador,  that  he  wished  to  delay  his  decision 
until  he  could  hear  from  the  King  of  France  and  be  guided 

*  Giustinian,  Dispacci,  ii.  pp.  285,  288-292  ;  Brief  of  January  10, 
1504,  Archivio  Vaticano,  xxxix.  22,  flf.  71;,  8. 

441  FF 


DUKES  AND  POETS  IN  FERRARA 

by  his  Majesty's  wishes  in  the  matter.*  Julius  then  i 
prisoned  the  fallen  terror  in  the  Borgia  Tower,  in  the  \^ 
rooms  in  which  he  had  mm^dered  Alfonso  of  Biscegl 
and  only  released  him  on  the  condition  that  the  citadels 
question  Should  be  surrendered  within  forty  days.  I 
March,  all  had  been  recovered,  excepting  that  of  Fo^ 
where  the  castellano— in  secret  understanding  with  teare- 
still  flaunted  the  banner  of  the  Borgia  Bull,  imperturbah 
alike  to  papal  threats  and  proffered  papal  bribes.  Tl 
Venetians  and  the  last  descendant  of  the  former  rulers  i 
the  place,  Lodovico  degU  Orddaffi,  were  likewise  treatiii 
with  him,  each  trjdng  to  outbid  the  other  in  their  attempi 
to  purchase  the  citadel.'  Peaceable  measures  being  ui 
availing,  Juhus  demanded  artillery  from  Ercde,  an 
announced  his  intention  of  taking  the  rebellious  fortress  h 
storm. 

May  saw  the  dose  of  Cesare's  career  in  Italy.  On  \i 
release  from  Rome  he  had  gone  to  Naples,  which  had  by  noi 
fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  Spaniards,  with  a  safe  condor 
from  Gonsalvo  de  Cordova,  the  great  captain.  There,  at  th 
Pope*s  instigation,  he  was  made  a  prisoner.  In  a  brief  t 
Gonsalvo,  dated  May  ii,  1504,  the  Pope,  hearing  that  Cesar 
has  been  sending  money  to  the  castellano  of  Forli,  whom  h 
had  secretly  exhorted  not  to  restore  the  fortress,  and  tha 
the  latter  "  has  begun  to  bombard  our  city  of  Forli  with  hi 
artillery,  and  does  not  cease  from  acclaiming  the  name  of  thi 

*  Giustinian,  he.  ciL,  ii.  pp.  364,  366,  378. 

«  "  It  is  grievous  to  us  to  buy  this  citadel  which  is  ours,"  wrot 
the  Pope  on  March  9  to  his  commissaries,  the  Archbishop  of  Ra^ 
and  Pietro  Paolo  de  CaUio,  "  but  we  think  that  lighter  than  to  aUofl 
it  to  pass  into  the  hands  of  others.  Wherefore,  if  it  cannot  be  don< 
otherwise,  you  may  promise  him  in  our  name  15,000  golden  ducats. 
Archivio  Vaticano,  xxxix.  22,  f.  30. 

442 


THE  LAST   YEARS  OF  DUKE  ERCOLE 

^ke  in  contempt  and  hatred  of  us,"  urges  him  "  so  to  con- 
^^^  and  coerce  the  Duke,  who  has  been  received  under  thy 
protection,  that  he  may  be  unable  to  compass  anything 
^€3^st  onr  state  and  that  of  the  Holy  Roman  Church," 
^^d  to  force  him  to  have  the  citadel  surrendered  without 
^^y  excnse  or  delay,  "  for  it  lies  in  the  will  and  power  of  the 

For  a.  virhile  the  castellano  proved  obdurate.    Ercole  him- 
self noM^  interposed,  urging  him  to  yield ;  but  the  man  pro- 
fessed liimself  sceptical  as  to  Cesare's  captivity,  and  made 
difficnlties  about  surrendering  into  Ercole's  hands.    Duke 
Gnidobaldo  advanced  with  the  papal  troops,  and  at  length  in 
Angnst,  by  Ercole's  intervention,  backed  up  by  an  order  from 
Cesare  (extorted  by  Gonsalvo  with  a  promise  of  his  libera- 
tion), the  citadel  was  surrendered  to  the  papal  authorities.' 
In    spite  of  Gonsalvo's  pledge,  the  Borgia  was  sent  as  a 
prisoner  to  Spain.    Lucrezia  was  wild  with  apprehension 
for  her  brother's  safety,  fearing  even  for  his  life.     "  Be  of 
good  heart,"  vnrote  Ercole  to  her,  "  for  even  as  we  love  you 
sincerely  and  with  every  tenderness  of  heart  as  our  daughter, 
so  shall  we  never  fail  him,  and  we  wish  to  be  to  him  a  good 
fa.tlier  and  good  brother  in  everything."      But  he  could 
only    give  her  vague  expectations,  and   bid  her   "hope 


Brief  to  Gonsalvo  de  Cordova,  May  1 1 , 1 504.  Archivio  Vaticano 
c.  22,  ff .  5 IV,  52.  In  part  published  by  Pastor,  iii.  doc.  69. 
*  In  a  brief  to  Ercole,  of  June  19,  the  Pope  thanks  him  for  what  he 
is  doing,  and  expresses  his  astonishment  that  the  castellano  does  not 
l>elie^e  his  (Ercole's)  assertion  concerning  the  arrest  of  Cesare ;  he 
ssLys  that  Gonsalvo  will  send  a  man  to  Forli  to  order  him  to 
sxtnrender,in  the  name  of  the  King  and  Queen  of  Spain,  and  urges 
Elrcole  to  continue  what  he  has  begun,  so  that  the  said  citadel  may 
l>o  irestored  to  the  Church  through  him.  Archivio  Vaticano,  xxxix. 
22,  f .  100. 

443 


DUKES  AND  POETS  IN  FERRARA 

in  our  Lord  God  who  does  not  abandon  whoso  trusts 
Him."  * 

Things  had  not  hitherto  run  quite  smoothly  between  tl 
Duke  of  Ferrara  and  the  new  Pontiff.  The  concessioi 
made  to  the  former  by  Pope  Alexander,  on  the  occasion  ( 
Lucrezia's  marriage,  were  only  recognized  under  protest  b 
the  Roman  Curia.  Ercole  had  still  to  labour  to  get  the  con 
plete  cession  of  Cento  and  La  Pieve,  with  the  separation  o 
these  places  from  the  diocese  of  Bologna,  confirmed.  \Vha 
on  the  vigil  of  the  Feast  of  the  Apostles,  June  28, 1504-tln 
first  occasion  since  the  death  of  Alexander— BdtranA 
Costabili  went  at  the  hour  of  vespers  to  the  Camera  Ajx^to 
Uca,  to  present  the  hundred  gold  ducats  of  the  tribute  2ni 
demand  the  receipt,  he  had  a  bad  reception  from  the  Cardinal 
Camarhngo  and  the  other  papal  officials.  The  Fiscal  Pro- 
curator said  that  the  Duke  was  wont  to  pay  4,150  ^^^^ 
as  tribute,  and  professed  to  know  nothing  about  the  reduction 
to  one  hundred.  Costabili  answered  that  the  Duke  had  the 
reduction  granted  by  a  very  full  apostolical  Bull,  and  showed 
the  receipt  for  last  year's  tribute,  which  he  had  brought  ^-ith 
him.  The  Auditor  of  the  Camera,  "  who  is  a  terrible  man," 
wanted  to  see  it,  and  then,  turning  to  the  Camarlingo,  made 
some  frivolous  objections  to  its  validity.  Finally,  howem, 
the  Cardinal  accepted  the  money  under  protest,  "  without 
prejudice  of  the  Camera  Apostolica,"  as  the  reduction  had  not 
been  confirmed  by  the  Pope.*  JuUus  had  even  suspected 
that  Ercole  was  favouring  Lodovico  degU  Ordelaffi  in  his 


^  Mintae  Ducali  of  October  20  (year  illegible,  but  presumably 
1 504).   Archivio  di  Modena,  Carieggio  dei  Principi- 

a  Dispatches  of  B.  Costabili  to  Ercole,  June  28  and  A^i^^t  4> 
1 504 .     Archivio  di  Modena,  Carteggio  degli  A  mbasciaiori—Roma- 

444 


THE  L\ST  YEARS  OF  DUKE  ERCOLE 

designs  lipon  Forll.*     But  the  Duke's  good  offices  in  getting 
t\i.&    olDstinate  citadel  surrendered  to  the  papal  forces,  and 
t^is    j>romises  of  artillery  arid  ammunition  to  the  Duke  of 
XJrbixio,    completdy  changed  the  situation,  and  the  Pope 
expressed  his  warmest  gratitude.      "Write  to  his  Excel- 
lence ,*'  hesaidtoMonsignorBeltrando,  "  that  we  are  obliged 
to  him,  and  that,  should  the  chance  arise,  we  shall  do  the 
^aixie  for  him.  Others,  indeed,  have  promised  to  do  things  and 
lia-ve  said  words  ;  but  his  Excellence  has  both  said  and  done. 
j^igh't    glad  are  we  that  this  occasion  has  arisen,  to  let  us 
kno^w  upon  whom  we  can  rely  in  our  needs."  * 

Xhe  chief  dramatic  novelty  of  this  year  in  Ferrara  had  been 
tlxG^  Jacob  et  Joseph,  which  had  been  written  for  the  purpose 
t>y  Pajiciolfo  CoUenuccio.  It  was  played  in  Lent,  on  the 
Xliursday  in  Passion  Week  and  on  Palm  Sunday,  in  the 
Duomo,  with  unusually  elaborate  mountings  and  with  a 
representation  of  Paradise  in  which  the  ducal  choristers 
filled  the  parts  of  Angels.'  This  was  Pandolfo's  last 
achievement.  The  restored  Giovanni  Sforza  (whose  natural 
subject  he  was)  regarded  him  as  a  traitor  for  his  adherence 

1    Heaxing  that  Giovanni  Francesco  Maria  Rangoni  had  gone  to 

Forli  ancl  offered  financial  assistance  to  the  Ordelaffi,  the  Pope  had 

sent,  a   strongly-worded  brief  to  Ercole,  bidding  him  clear  himself 

from  "tlie  suspicion — which,  said  his  Holiness,  everybody  but  himself 

entertaitieci — that  he  was  privy  to  the  transaction,  by  recalling 

Rangoni  at  once,  and  either  not  allow  him  to  give  the  money  to 

IxKiovico  or,  if  given,  make  him  take  it  back  as  soon  as  possible. 

He  f  ollovred  it  up  by  a  furious  order  to  Rangoni  himself  to  leave  Forli 

instantly-      Briefe  of  March  12  and  18,  1504.    Archivio   Vaticano, 

xxxix-    22,  ff.  3^^i  32.      Lodovico  died  at  Raveima    at  the  end  of 

M.av  ;   ^^  ^^^  ^  bastard  brother  of  that  Antonio  Maria  degU  Or- 

delafiB.  -wlioxn  Ercole  had  befriended  in  the  days  of  Sixtus  IV. 

d    x>ispatch  of  B.  Costabili  to  Ercole,  August  20, 1 504.     Archivio  di 
M.o<iena,  CarUggio  degli  Ambasctatori—Roma, 
»  Zambotto,  f.  400  ;  Gaspary,  ii.  part  i.  p.  205. 

*   445 


DUKES  AND  POETS  IN  FERRARA 

to  Cesaie  Borgia.  In  July,  he  lured  him  to  Pesaro ;  and,  t 
the  plea  that  Pandolf  o  had  slandered  him  in  order  to  cun 
favour  with  the  Borgia,  in  spite  of  the  intervention  of  tli 
Marquis  of  Mantua,  he  had  him  cruelly  and  perfidious] 
strangled. 

Since  the  accession  of  Pope  Julius,  Ercole  had  grown  di 
satisfied  with  the  conduct  of  the  Cardinal  Ippolito.  Hi 
considered  that  his  son  was  neglecting  his  interests  at  tin 
Papal  Court,  and,  in  December,  had  written  him  a  strongly 
worded  letter  of  rebuke.  Things  grew  more  serious  in  tk 
spring,  when  Ippolito  was  at  Ferrara.  A  messenger  im 
Rome  penetrated  into  the  Cardinal's  room,  to  deliver  a 
papal  brief  or  admonition  concerning  the  surrendering  oi 
certain  benefices  which  the  Pope  had  conferred  upon  one  oi 
his  favourites ;  Ippolito  was  furious,  and  had  the  unfortu- 
nate messenger  soundly  beaten.  The  Duke  ordered  him 
instantly  to  write  to  Rome  and  apologize,  under  pain  oi 
banishment  from  his  duchies.  The  Cardinal  haughtily  refused, 
and,  on  April  9,  left  Ferrara  and  fled  to  Mantua.  The  next 
day,  Ercole  sent  a  letter  after  him.  He  had  heard,  he  said. 
that  he  talked  of  going  to  Spain.  If  he  really  means  this, 
"  as  we  look  more  to  your  interests  than  at  your  conduct 
towards  us,"  he  reminds  him  that  he  must  pay  his  respects 
to  the  King  of  France  on  the  way  ;  otherwise,  he  will  niR 
great  risk  of  losing  his  archbishopric  of  Milan  (which  Ippolito 
still  held  in  addition  to  the  see  of  Ferrara),  as  the  King  will 
think  himself  slighted.  "  After  that,  you  can  go  to  Spain  or 
wherever  you  like."  The  Cardinal  is  to  answer  by  the  same 
messenger,  as  to  what  he  intends  to  do  in  the  matter. 
In  answer  to  this,  Ercole  got  a  letter  in  Ippolito's  owfl 

^  Minute  Ducali  of  April  10,  1504.   Archivio  di  UodeD&,CartHi^ 
dei  Principi.    Cf.  Zambotto,  f.  400V. 

446 


^,.  ST  YEARS  OF  DUKE  ERCOLE 
TH^  lAST  T(E,«  ^     ^^  Cardinal 

„d  "  toa  o*  insolence,"  as  ^^^  '     ,^  ^^  further 

^^^cations  v^th  his  ^f\''J^  ZTJon  oi  goi»g 
o«s  of  tbose  J  ^^^  ^^^  ^l^^ritg  but.  not. 

*^  -^^t  to  the  Court  oi  the  Most  Cbns^,^-^„t  giv« 
f ^f^-<^«  ^P  ^  "^^'L^^^^r-^oniThed  that  irx 
^*      f  definite  answer.       1  am  greaUy  j^^. 

^^'^       ^Uer  your  Excellence  has  "^^e  a  show  o 
*^  -"^^i!ii  not  for  my  honour  (w^^^  ^^^^^  ^Hereas 

'"Ltri^P^^-  ^^  -^"  fr^  ^a^^tion  of  the 
^^Ive  done  your  best  to  make  every  ma^^         ^^ 

Z^^  y-  ^  "^  ^Sll^Sr-^Perceivetheeffec^ 

^?.     ,««thout  passion,  can  see  cieany      ^        ,^  son.    la 

"^'ft  ti  always  been  good,  -^  ^yP^^^'^^fys  postponed 

Jtiiing  that  has  happened,  1  have^w  ^^^^^t... 

"^"^^private  advantage  for  your  .^^Tin  thus banish- 

""^     ^t>l^  bitterly  of  the  Duke's  miushcem^ 

^"  W^  f^  bis  State.    "Although  you  ^^^J^^  ^am- 
'"liw^^y---^^^'^^°^''°^ri^chlugence 

^Le^u  bave  sought  my  ^^--'^^"fo"  yourself,  not 
"f   though  you  were  going  to  gam  a  State       y  ^^^^^^  ^ 
^^g  ^to  consideration  who  .t^^y^^  ^,  ,„,  .J^ 
*fr    ^v  a»d  for  what  cause.    You  oo  ^^  ^^ 

"^rT--  -^  -y  ^"°  ^'^  Touf^c^^-  to  treat 
every  ^^^  your  sue  trivial 

r«e  done  in  the  fatare.  it  could  ^  ^^  only 

-^  „,  the  State ;  »Wch.  »o«^«.  ^,.  ^,en.    Smce 

"^  447 


DUKES  AND  POETS  IN  FERRARA 

it  is  your  desire  that  I  should  never  see  you  again,  I  w 
satisfy  your  wish  nor  offend  your  eyes  in  any  way ;  for  yc 
have  made  me  of  such  a  nature  that  I  should  not  desire  ] 
go  into  the  presence  of  Christ,  unless  I  hoped  to  be  wdcome 
by  Him."  Let  his  Excellence  take  care  of  his  health,  an 
forgive  him  if,  in  his  own  defence,  he  is  compelled  to  teD  ti 
whole  truth  about  their  quarrel,  wherever  he  goes.  "  Will 
all  my  power,  I  pray  you  to  deign  to  give  me  your  blesinj 
for  this  my  journey."  * 

"  In  the  first  line  of  your  letter,"  wrote  the  Duke  in 
reply,  "  you  say  that,  in  spite  of  what  you  had  resolved, 
you  have  written.    Verily,  it  seems  to  us  that  the  beginning 
of  your  letter  corresponds  with  the  rest,  and  that  you  vnsb 
to  show  us  at  the  outset  your  bad  will.     We  know  not  which 
would  be  worse,  to  have  written  to  us  in  the  way  you  have 
or  not  to  have  deigned  to  answer  us.*'     "  We  are  astonished 
at  these  impertinent  words  of  yours.     The  favour  that  we 
asked  of  you,  to  write  to  Rome,  was  not  in  the  least  against 
your  honour.    Nay,  we  should  have  believed  that,  not 
merely  in  a  tiny  thing  like  this  was,  but  if  we  had  uiged 
you  to  renounce  this  bishopric  of  Ferrara,  you  would  have 
done  it  to  please  us,  right  willingly."  It  is  not  true  that  he 
has  behaved  like  a  good  son.     "  Excepting  the  vote  that 
you  gave  to  the  Holiness  of  the  Pope,  with  the  will  of  the 
most  reverend  Cardinal  of  Rouen,  which  was  well  done,  you 
have  never  satisfied  us  in  anything  of  importance.  And 
if,  indeed,  it  seemed  that  you  began  to  favour  our  interests 
in  Cento  and  La  Pieve,  you  then  suddenly  departed  tom 
Rome,  without  our  leave,  and  in  spite  of  the  need  of  those 
affairs  of  ours."    IppoUto  has  always  been  retrograde  to 

1  Autograph   letter  of    the  Cardinal   Ippolito,  d^ted  MaDtai, 
April  12,  1504.     Archivio  di  Modena,  Carteggio  deiPfin^^P^- 

448 


THE  LAST  YEARS  OF  DUKE  ERCOLE 

his  ^wishes,  although  Ercole  has  got  him  the  cardinalate  and 

almost    all   the  benefices  that  he  has.     "  Since  you  have 

been   disobedient  and  ungrateful  towards  us,  you  need  not 

-wonder  that  we  have  dismissed  you  from  our  State  ;  because, 

l>eajring  yourself  towards  us  as  you  do,  we  do  not  think  that 

yon  axe  -worthy  to  be  near  us.    As  to  your  saying  that,  by 

onr  -treatment  of  you,  we  have  given  a  bad  example  to  our 

successors,  and  that  from  such  a  thing  the  ruin  of  the  State 

could   follow  :  we  say  that  we  are,  nevertheless,  content  to 

lia.-ve   done  this,  and  that  it  should  pass  as  an  example  for 

oixr  sn.ccessors — for  those  of  them,  at  least,  who  have  sons  that 

are  not  obedient."     "  We  know  not  how  it  befits  a  Cardinal 

to  say  that  you  would  not  desire  to  go  into  the  presence  of 

Christ,   unless  you  hoped  to  be  welcomed  by  Him.     But 

"we  understand  that  you  wish  to  behave  towards  our  Lord 

God  as  you  do  towards  us,  and  towards  the  others  in  this 

world.      You  do  evil  to  take  Christ's  name  in  vain,  with 

small    reverence  and  with  such  haughtiness  as  you  do." 

/^    to    his  threat  of  speaking  out,  let  him  tell  the  truth 

wherever  he  goes,  and  every  one  will  judge  that  he  is  in 

the   ivrong.     "As  to  our  benediction,  which   in  the  end 

you  pray  us  to  give  you  for  this  journey  of  yours,  we  tell  you 

that  we  do  not  deny  it  you ;  nay,  we  give  it  to  you  wiUingly, 

and  we  would  that  it  had  the  power  to  make  you  bring  forth 

good  fruit.     But,  since  virtue  cannot  operate  well  in  things 

^\^SLt  axe  ill  disposed,  we  know  not  what  effect  it  can  have  upon 

y-Q^_-although  we  would    that   it  were    good.     And  we 

fear   that  our  Lord  God,  since  you  do  not  reverence  His 

j^3^jesty  and  are  disobedient  to  your  father,  will  give  you 

some    fitting  chastisement,   although  we  should  be  very 

sorry  ior  it."  ^ 

1  jiifinute  Ducali  of  April  14, 1 504.  Archivio  di  Modesa,  Carteggio  dei 

449 


DUKES  AND  POETS  IN  FERRARA 

But  the  storm  soon  subsided.     On  Sunday,  April  14, 
(the  very  day  on  which  Ercole  was  dictating  this  letter), 
the  Marquis  of  Mantua  arrived  unexpectedly  at  the  palace 
at  the  hour  of  Mass.    He  had  come  down  the  Po  in  a  gondola 
with  twelve  oars,  to  reconcile  the  Cardinal  with  the  Duke, 
in   which  he  succeeded  without    difficulty.    Ippolito  re- 
turned to  Ferrara,  and  the  festivities   for  the  feast  of  San 
Giorgio  passed  off  with  exceptional  success.   The  horse-race 
was  nm  in  the  presence  of  the  Duke,  the  Marquis  and  the 
Marchesana  Isabella,  the  polio  being  given  to  the  latter, 
one  of  whose  horses  had  come  in  first,  "  with  very  great 
gladness   of   the  people;   and  after   dinner  were  redted 
comedies."  ^    This  was  the  last  festivity  and  entertainment 
of  Duke  Ercole's  reign. 

In  this  April,  before  their  father*s  reconciliation  with 
IppoUto,  Don  Alfonso  had  started  upon  a  tour,  accompanied 
by  Antonio  Costabili  and  others,  to  make  acquaintance 
with  various  European  sovereigns.  From  Paris  he  went 
to  Brussels,  where  he  met  the  future  Emperor  Charles,  and 
thence  he  came  to  England  and  was  kindly  received  by  oar 
Henry  VII.*  On  his  return  to  France,  an  urgent  summons 
reached  hun  to  hasten  back  to  Italy,  for  that  his  father  was 
dying.    In  the  light  of  future  events,  the  entry  in  Sanudo's 

Prindpi.  The  reader  by  this  time  wiU  have  had  enough  of  Er^^s 
correspondence  with  his  sons,  but  I  have  printed  ^^^^^L^ 
from  the  Modena  Archives  in  Appendix  II.,  document  ^5i^^ 
at  an  earlier  date  to  Ippolito  on  the  duties  of  a  Cardi^^i  f^^j 
of  the  instructive  contrast  that  it  affords  with  the  famous  aavi 
Lorenzo  de*  Medici  to  the  young  Cardinal  Giovanni. 
*  Zambotto,  f .  4001;.  .    ,  jx  ^jy 

«  "  From  an  English  courtier,  who  had  been  informea  ox  i  ^ 
letters  of  the  15th  of  the  past  month  from  England,  I  ^^^^^^ 
most  illustrious  Don  Alfonso  has  been  much  caressed  *°  «_jxj^(jo 
in  England  by  that  most  serene  King."  ^^V^^^ J?L^da^ 
Costabili  of  August  4,  1504.  Archivio  di  Modena^,  Cams^ 
A  mbasciatori — Roma, 

450 


THE  LAST  YEARS  OF  DUKE  ERCOLE 

Diary    for    June  7  reads  ominously  :  "  From  Ferrara  the 
neiTvs  oomes  that  the  Duke  is  ill ;  Don  Alfonso  is  in  France 
atncl  is  going  to  England,  so  that  a  messenger  has  been  sent 
after   tiiin  for  him  to  return,  because  his  father  is  in  great 
danger  ;    and  if  at  his  death  he  should  not  be  found  in 
Ferrara,  the  second  brother,  Don  Ferrando,  who  is  loved 
loy  tlae  people,  could  be  made  Lord."    Similarly,  Zambotto 
tells  lis  that  Alfonso  hurried  back,  "  thmking  that  he  was 
in  danger  of  not  succeeding  to  the  lordship  of  Ferrara,  if 
his  father  died  in  his  absence,  although  he  had  been  already 
invested  by  Pope  Alexander  VI  with  the  duchy  and  its 
dominion  ;  nevertheless,  he  hoped  in  the  people  who  loved 
l^im.'*  *      Zambotto,  it  will  be  observed,  gives  no  hint  as  to 
which    of  the  brothers  it  was  from  whom  the  opposition 
should    come.    There  was  much  discussion  in  the  Papal 
Court  as  to  the  future  of  Ferrara.    "  This  morning,"  wrote 
Antonio   Giustinian  to  the  Doge  of  Venice,  on  June  29, 
«*  it  was  said  that  there  were  letters  from  Ferrara  that  the 
j^fyrdL  Duke  had  had  a  return  of  his  malady  and  was  in  great 
danger  of  his  Ufe.    As  to  what  will  happen  in  the  event  of 
his  death,  various  judgments  are  passed,  and  aU  conclude 
that   there  must  be  great  dissensions  among  his  sons,  and 
that    the  absence  of   Don  Alfonso  will  be  greatly  to  his 
disadvantage,  since  the  Cardinal,  who  is  popular  with  the 
xjeople,  is  in  Ferrara.    But  they  all  seem  to  be  not  a  little 
iealons  of  your  Celsitude,  whose  conduct  is  watched  more 
than  ever,  since  all  think  that  you  are  aspiring  to  the 
monarchy  of  Italy." « 

Ippolito  ruled  the  State  while  Ercole,  devout  to  the  last, 
l^ad   hinoLself  conveyed  to  Florence  in  a  Utter  drawn   by 

1  Sanndo,  Diarii,  vi.  col.  30  ;  Zambotto,  f .  4021;. 
*  Giustinian,  Dispacci,  iii.  p.  162. 

451 


■I 


DUKES  AND  POETS  IN  FERRARA 

mules,  to  keep  a  vow  that  he  had  made  to  the  Madonna  oi 
the  Aimunziata.  "This  morning,*'  he  wrote  to  the 
Cardinal,  on  July  7,  "  early,  with  the  grace  of  our  Lord  God 
we  have  arrived  here  at  Florence  safely  ;  and  we  have  been 
to  the  Mass  at  the  Annunziata.  To-morrow  moniing  we 
shall  go  to  San  Giovaimi,  and  then,  the  next  morning,  we 
shall  start  on  our  return  home,  and  we  shall  return  by  the 
way  that  we  have  come.  We  have  thought  weD  to  give 
you  notice  of  this,  in  order  that  you  may  know  our  progress 
in  this  voyage,  and  we  add  that,  at  present,  we  feel  our- 
self  really  convalescent."  So  much  was  he  recovered 
that  he  ultimately  decided  to  go  on  from  Bologna  to 
Modena  and  Reggio,  "  to  visit  those  peoples  and  cities  of 
ours." ' 

Alfonso  reached  Ferrara  on  August  8,  and  found  hi^ 
father  had  rallied.  ReaUzing  that  the  situation  might 
become  critical,  he  resolved  to  make  friends  with  the 
Venetians,  and,  with  the  consent  of  Ercole,  who  remembered 
how  they  had  secured  his  own  accession,  went  to  Venice. 
To  Beltrando  Costabili,  the  Pope  expressed  mild  dis- 
pleasure at  this  step.  It  was  too  much  submission  to  the 
Venetians,  he  said  ;  it  would  make  the  Venetians  prouder 
than  ever  and  more  bent  upon  the  acquisition  of  Ferrara. 
He  had  heard  of  the  excessive  homage  that  Alfonso  had 
paid  to  the  Signoria ;  the  Nuncio  there  had  warned  him 
that  it  was  too  much  submission,  but  Alfonso  had  answered 
that  he  thought  the  times  demanded  it  of  him,  especiaHy 
as  the  power  of  France  was  on  the  wane.  "  Even  if  the 
affairs  of  France  are  not  firm,"  said  his  Holiness,  "there 
is  no  need  to  fear  the  Venetians,  so  long  as  we  are  here.  We 

1  Letters  of  July  7  and  10,  1504,  from  Florence  andAppiaflo 
respectively.     Archivio  di  Modena,  CarUggio  dei  Prindpi- 

452 


THE  LAST  YEARS  OF  DUKE  ERCOLE 

^l^all  never  suffer  that  they  do  him  any  injury."*  Re- 
^^^xkable  words  as  coming  from  Pope  Julius,  and  which  he 
>^^as  destined  in  a  few  years  completely  to  belie. 

'^'^^    old  Duke    grew  worse  again  in  September,   and, 
^tKovigh  he  rallied  temporarUy,  it  was  clear  that  the  end 
^^^^  xiot  far  off.     Don  Ferrando  kept  quiet,  but  a  furious 
qiiaxrel    arose  between  Alfonso  and  Ippolito.    Their  fol- 
lowers   armed  themselves ;   there  was  a  free  fight  outside 
the  Cardinal's  palace  one  day,  and  near  Alfonso's  palace 
on  the  next.    At  Rome,  the  Cardinal  Soderini  assured  the 
I^ope    that  the  Venetians   were  stirring  up  this  discord 
a-rrxong  the  Estensian  princes,  in  order  to  make  themselves 
masters  of  Ferrara  on  the  Duke's  death,  and  suggested  that 
Giovanni  BentivogUo,  being  the  nearest  potentate,  should 
interpose  and  make  peace.      "The  Venetians  are  never 
contented,"  he  said ;  "  when  they  have  that  State,  they 
will  want  Bologna  also,  and  then  it  will  be  our  turn  at 
Florence."     A  similar  warning  reached  the  Pope  from  his 
Nnncio  at  Venice."    Julius  sent  briefs  to  Ercole  promising 
him  aJl  the  aid  in  his  power,  and  to  Alfonso  declaring  that, 
in   every  event,  he  would  take  hun  under  his  protection.' 
Ercole's  last  cares  were  for  the  spiritual  needs  of  his 
I>eople.  In  what  appears  to  be  the  last  of  his  letters  that  has 
l>een  preserved  to  us,  we  find  him  writing  to  the  Cardinal  of 
Sa.n  Giorgio,  as  the  protector  of  the  Augustinians,  to  have 
Frate  Egidio  da  Viterbo  of  that  Order  sent  to  preach  the 
coming  Lent  in  the  Duomo  of  Ferrara,  and  asking  that  the 

1  Dispatch  from  Beltrando  Costabili  to  Ercole,  September  3,  1504. 
Archivio  di  Modena,  Carieggio  degli  Ambasciatori—Roma, 

«  Gmstinian,  Dispatches  of  September  13  and  20, 1504.  Dispacci 
iii.  pp.  229,  236. 

3  Briefs  of  September  18,  1504,  from  Ostia.  Archivio  Vaticano. 
-yaam.  22,  f.  179. 

453 


DUKES  AND  POETS  IN  FERRARA 

friar  should  be  commanded  by  a  brief  from  the  Pope,  if  he 
refuse.  "  For  this  good  work  we  shall  be  as  much  obliged 
to  your  most  reverend  Lordship  as  for  any  other  thing  which 
at  present  we  could  receive  from  you,  because,  since  that 
Frate  Egidio  is  of  the  learning  and  sufficiency  that  he  is. 
we  cannot  but  hope  that  all  those  good  fruits  will  Mm 
that  are  desired."  *  But  the  Duke  himself  was  not  to  see 
this  Lent. 

Both  Venice  and  Rome  were  on  the  alert.    On  December 
7,  the  Venetians  heard  that  Ercole  was  at  the  point  of  death, 
and  that  Don  Alfonso  had  sent  to  tell  the  Visdomino,  Ser 
Alvise  da  Mula,  "  that  he   reconunended   himself  to  our 
Signoria  and  wished  to  be  its  good  son."     The  Pope,  under- 
standing the  Duke's  critical  condition  and  mistrusting  the 
intentions  of  the  RepubUc,  used   **  strange  words "  (the 
recognized  euphemism  of  the  epoch  for  undiplomatical  lan- 
guage), and  talked  of  sending  the   Cardinal  of  Volterra 
(Soderini)  to  Ferrara,  as  legate.   To  this,  however,  Beltrando 
Costabih  objected,  and  used  all  his  powers   of  persuasion 
with  different  Cardinals  to  prevent,  or  at  least  to  delay  it, 
until  he  could  hear  from  Alfonso.*    A  most  amazing  storj' 
was  sent  by  Giustinian  from  Rome  to  Venice  to  the  effect 
that  the  chief  reason  for  which  Julius  intended  to  send 
a  legate  to  Ferrara,  in  case  of  Ercole's  death,  was  that 
the  Cardinal  Ippohto  had  promised  to  keep  the  duchy  loyal 
to  the  Pope,  if  the  latter  helped  him  to  become  Lord  of  it 
instead  of  Alfonso,  whom  he  represented  as  entirely  Venetian 
in  his  sympathies  and  as  having  pledged  himself  to  complete 

*  Minute  Ducali  of  November  i6,  1504.  Archivio  di  Afodena, 
Minutario  Cronologico. 

«  Sanudo,  op.  ciU,  vi.  coll.  no,  114.  Giustinian,  Disp^^  °^ 
December  9,  Dispacci,  iii.  p.  330. 

454 


XHE  LAST  YEARS  OF  DUKE  ERCOLE 

subordination  to  Venice.  It  was  asserted  that  the  Cardinal 
felt  himself  strong  in  the  affection  of  the  people  and  was  in 
good  understanding  with  Don  Ferrando ;  if  the  thing  came 
off,  he  i«/^ould  lay  down  his  red  hat  and  marry  the  daughter 
of  his  Holiness.^  This  must  have  been  the  merest  canard, 
for  it  would  rather  seem  that  IppoUto  had  been  completely 
reconciled  to  his  brother.  Nevertheless,  the  proposed 
coming  of  the  legate  made  Alfonso  uneasy,  and  he  bade  the 
ambassador  do  his  best  to  prevent  it : — 

*'  Messer  Beltrando.    We  have  seen  and  right  well  noted 
all  that  you  tell  us  in  your  letters,  about  the  decision  that 
the  Holiness  of  our  Lord  had  taken  to  send  hither  the  most 
reverend  Cardinal  of  Volterra,  in  the  case  of- the  death  of 
the   Lord    our  Father.    In  reply,  we  tell  you  that,  in  this 
case,  we  would  have  the  Pope,  as  a  demonstration  of  the 
love  that  we  know  he  bears  us,  do  only  as  much  as  we  shall 
request  from  his  Beatitude,  and  nothing  beyond.    Wherefore 
we  wish  you,  if  you  hear  at  any  time  in  the  future  that  he 
is  thinking  of  sending  us  the  said  most  reverend  Monsignor 
or  another,  to  do  your  best  to  prevent  his  Holiness  from 
sending  any  one.     We  do  not  think  that  he  ought  to  send 
a  legate  here,  unless  we  demand  it,  especially  as  we  see  no 
obvious  need  of  one ;  so,  as  you  are  on  the  spot  and  under- 
stand that  this  is  our  will,  you  will  strive  that  it  be  done  as 
we  have  said.    Do  not  beUeve  that  we  are  led  to  this  thought 
and  determination  in  order  to  escape  the  expense  which  we 
should  incur  through  the  coming  hither  of  a  legate,  or  to 
oppose  the  will  that  our  Lord  has  to  honour  and  protect  us, 

1  DUpatch  of  December  13,  1504.  Dispacci,  iii.  p.  334.  The 
daughter  in  question  is  the  famous  Madonna  Felice  della  Rovere. 
The  thing,  adds  the  writer,  is  being  kept  a  strict  secret  by  the  Pope, 
and  will  not  be  disclosed  at  all,  unless  there  is  a  further  change 
in  the  state  of  affairs. 

455 


DUKES  AND   PORTS   I. 

the  which  we  hold  more  dear  than  oi 
that  infinite  and  important  consider^i 
and  if  we  made  them  known  to  you  bj 
letters,  you  yourself  would  urge  us  t\ 
Ferrara,  January  20,  1505.     Alfonso/ 

Five  days  later,   on    January    ^5, 
d'  Este,  the  man  who,  in  spite  of  maA 
had  truly  striven  to  tread  in  the   pati 
beacon-Ught    of  the   martyred   Fra  Gii 
passed  away  peacefully  in  the  Castello  Yi 

His  last  Will  and  Testament  is  stiU 
Archives  of  Modena.*  Itisanoteworttyc/c 
ting  both  the  mystical  side  of  his  character 
with  his  children.  It  begins :  "  ^vejx  as  < 
Christ  before  He  suffered  caDed  His  discipk 
founded  a  new  Testament,  in  which  He  made  i 
His  heirs  ;  so  hath  He  set  us  an  examp/e,  t/iai 
of  Him,  before  we  pass  out  of  this  present  v^ol 
make  a  disposition  of  those  things  which  we  won 
after  our  death.  Therefore  should  each  one 
that,  before  the  hour  of  death  overtake  him,  he  s( 
himself  and  his  possessions  that  after  his  death  J 
seen  to  have  done  all  things  prudently."  He  com. 
soul  to  God's  mercy,  his  body  to  be  buried  at  Sai 
degli  Angeli,  before  the  high  altar  of  tte  lamdm 
each  of  a  number  of  monasteries  and  religious  bo 
leaves  one  hundred  Un  marchesane  annually  in  perp 
with  minute  instructions  concerning  monthly  Mas 

*  Minute  Ducali  per  Rom  a  Beltrando  CosMi.  Arcia 
Modena,  Carteggio  degli  Ambasdatori—Roma. 

*  Cancelleria  Ducale,  Docunmti  spettanti  a  Principi  Esim 
take  this  opportunity  of  thanking  Dr.  GiuJio  Berton/ /or  £a/&f 
attention  to  this  document. 

456 


THE  LAST  YEARS  OF  DUKE  ERCOLE 

P^n?^t\iity  for  his  soul,  the  legacies  to  be  paid  immediately 
^tter   liis  death  and  afterwards  at  the  begimiing  of  each 
year  :     **  in  order  that  the  soul  of  the  testator  may  more 
swiftly     fed  their  suffrages,  and  more  easily  be  delivered 
irom.    the    pains    of    Purgatory."       Moreover,  he    leaves 
^^^otlxer   hundred  lire  marchesane  to  the  "chaplains  and 
college  of  the  chaplains  of  the  Cathedral  of  Ferrara,"  in 
order  that,  in  addition  to  the  obhgation  of  sajang  the  above 
Masses,  they  may  be  bound  every  Saturday,  in  perpetuity,  in 
the  morning  to  say  and  celebrate  a  solemn  Mass  in  honour  of 
the    Blessed  Virgin  Mary,  and  in  the  evening  to  sing  the 
Rosary  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  before  the  Lady-altar  of  the 
Cathedral.*    Then  follow   the  legacies   to  his  sons.    To 
Ippolito,  he  simply  leaves  four  cardinal's  rochets,  con- 
sidering that  he  is  sufficiently  provided  for,  **  by  so  many 
benefices  which  he  possesses  and  holds."    To  Ferrando, 
besides  the  palace  near  San  Francesco  (the  present  Palazzo 
Paxeschi)  in  which  he  is  living,  he  leaves  a  number  of  pos- 
sessions in  the  Ferrarese  and  Modenese  and  in  the  district 
of  Carpi,  the  annual  income  from  which  together  amounts 
to  X4,992  lire  marchesane  ;  in  addition  to  this,  Don  Alfonso 
is  to  give  him  an  annual  salary  and  provision  of  3,000  lire 
marchesane^  "  so  long  as  he  follows  the  Court,  and  remains 
ixk   obedience  and  devotion  to  that  most  illustrious  Don 
Alfonso."    To  the  younger  Sigismondo,  besides  the  Palazzo 
Schifanoia  in  which  he  lives  at  present,  with  all  that  it  con- 
-ta-ins,  he  leaves  a  nmnber  of  possessions  and  customs,  more 
especially  in  Romagna,  amounting  to  an  aimual  income 
of  some  11,000  lire  marchesane,  and  the  additional  3,000 

1  The  whole  of  these  pious  bequests  comes  to  i  ,200  lire  marchesane 
a.  year.  In  1 504,  the  lira  marchesana  was  a  sum  of  money  equivalent 
-^o  about  10  lire  of  modem  Italian  coinage. 

457  ^^ 


DUKES  AND  POETS 

from  Don  Alfonso  under  the  sam 
of  Don  Ferrando.  Small  legacies 
d*  Este  Gonzaga,  who  has  her  d( 
grandsons,  Maximilian  and  Fn 
the  dowry  of  their  mother  feeatri 
the  palace  in  the  Via  degli  Angeli 
possessions  and  customs  bringinj 
4,500  lire  marchesancy  and  an  add 
provision  from  Don  Alfonso,  unc 
Ferrando.  No  mention  is  made 
voglio.  Don  Alfonso  is  made 
cessor  in  all  the  rest,  and  in  all 
The  Testament  is  drawn  up  by 
notary  Lodovico  Bonamelli,  in  the 
da  Siena,  on  July  i,  1504,  and 
Giovanni  da  Tabia,  prior  of  the 
Santa  Maria  degli  Angeli  of  the 
fessor  of  the  Lord  testator,"  Fra 
five  other  friars  of  the  Angeli,  Don 
"called  and  specially  requested 
mouth  of  the  most  illustrious  Lo 
aforesaid." 

It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that,  ( 
in  the  epoch  of  the  Borgia,  Ercole 
thetic,  almost  the  only  not  ignobli 
rest  upon  his  reputation :  his  cru 
towards  his  nephew,  Niccold  di 
Italy  in  abetting  the  disastrous  p 
which  brought  the  French  invade: 
first,  in  any  other  of  the  conten 
be  excused  on  the  plea  of  the  poh 
but  not  so  in  the  case  of  Ercole,  wh 

458 


THE  LAST  YEARS  OF  DUKE  ERCOLE 

of  morals  and  undoubtedly  hdd  higher  ideals.    In  palliation 
of  the  second  might  be  urged  the  lack  of  genuine  national 
sentiment  among  the  Italians  of  the  early  Renaissance; 
but,    at  the  best,  it  was  treason,  and  as  treason  all  the 
more   enlightened  spirits  even  of  that  age  stigmatized  it. 
Ercole's  religious  fervour  was  intense  and  genuine ;  to  the 
best  of  his  abilities,  he  strove  to  follow  where  the  light  of 
tlie  truth  seemed  to  shine.    Want  of  moral  courage  and  a 
certain  spirit  of  time-serving  kept  him  back  from  the  heights. 
He  loved  his  people,  and  was,  on  the  whole,  a  good  lord  to 
his    subjects ;  the  faults  of  his  administration  were  many 
and    grievous,  but  they  were  due  more  to  the  general  con- 
dition of  the  times,  and  to  the  low  and  sordid  conception 
then  prevalent  as  to  the  art  of  government  and  the  duties 
of  a.  sovereign,  than  to  any  lack  of  noble  qualities  of  heart 
BXid   mind. 

Ercole  must  be  regarded  as  the  maker  of  modem  Ferrara. 

**  The    Duke  desires  nothing  else,"  writes  a  discontented 

contemporary  and  subject,  "save  every  day  to  decorate 

and  magnify  this  his  city  of  Ferrara  with  new  edifices  and 

palaces.*'  *     He    was   much    concerned    in    draining    and 

fertilising  the  country,  and  undertook  considerable  public 

works  in  this  direction  in  i486  and  subsequent  years.    In 

the    adorning  and  embellishing  of  the  capital,  Pietro  di 

Benvenuto — ^who  had,  it  will  be  remembered,  finished  the 

Schiianoia  for  Borso— appears  to  have  been  the  principal 

architect  employed  in  the  earlier  part  of  his  reign ;  it  was 

he  who  adapted  the  Castello  Vecchio  for  a  ducal  residence, 

a.tid  to  him  is  due  the  marble  stairway,  still  standing,  of 

the    Corte  Vecchia.    After  his  death  in  1483,  the  Duke 


1  Document  quoted  by  Frizzi,  iv.  p.  i43. 
459 


DUKES  AND  POETS 

chiefly  relied  upon  the  services 
and  of  Biagio  Rossetti.  Under 
1492,  Ercole  began  the  great  wc 
magnificent  aspect  that  it  still  retj 
the  enlargement  of  the  city  and 
a  new  district  on  the  northern  sic 
Erculea  or  Terra  Nova.  Ferrara 
The  smaller  Barco,  Belfiore,  the 
degU  Angeh  were  included  in  the 
Herculean  ramparts  along  which 
to  wander  hour  by  hour.  Broj 
down,  such  as  the  Corso  di  Porta 
the  Corso  di  Porta  Mare,  that  seem 
Strada  del  Boigo  Leone.  The  St 
fresh  importance,  while  the  trer 
city-walls  became  the  Strada  dell 
few  animated  streets  of  the  modei 
quarter  magnificent  palaces  begj 
and  courtiers  threw  themselve 
scheme.  Sigismondo  d'  Este,  the 
Palazzo  de'  Diamanti  begun  by 
to  be  finished  later  by  Girolan 
Borgognoni,  upon  the  fagade  of  \^ 
still  recall  the  Herculean  badge  ;  w 
the  chief  physician  of  the  Courl 
palace  reared  by  its   side,   the 

1  Cf.  Frizzi,  iv.  pp.  165-168,  and  es] 
in  Solerti,  Ferrara  e  la  Carte  Estei 
describes  the  b^inning  of  the  new  Vi 
"  and  the  Venetians,  hearing  this,  sc 
why  he  was  making  those  excavations 
he  wanted  to  enlarge  Ferrara."  Cf. 
ai  5UO  mantello  aggiunge  panno. 

460 


"THE  LAST  YEARS  OF  DUKE  ERCOLE 

All 

^^     ^^^  landowners  of  the  duchy  were  compeUed  to  send 

^  ^tadi^i  to  labour  on  the  walls  and  the  laying  out  of  the 

^  ^^  district ;  a  special  tax  was  levied  upon  all  the  Ferrarese 

^^rritory  ;  the  salaries  of  the  servants  of  the  Court  and  the 

^  spends   of  the  professors  of   the  Studio  were  reduced,  to 

^^   ftinds.*    The  buildmg  of  this  Herculean  quarter  was 

<^ottipleted   about  the  year   1501.    In  the  centre  of   his 

^reatioxi  the  Duke  desired  to  raise  an  equestrian  statue  of 

^^^^^^^^If .   and  he  attempted  to  obtain  from  Milan,  which 

had  by  then  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  French,  the  model 

which  l^onardo  da  Vinci  had  made  in  1493  for  the  monu- 

^^ent  of   Francesco  Sforza.    In  this  he  was  unsuccessful.* 

The  work  was  never  executed,  and,  upon  the  colunm  which 

the     Duke   had   prepared   for   himself,   stands   now— not 

unfittingly — the  statue  of  the  great  poet  who  was  to  be 

the   supreme  glory  of  Ferrara. 

Many  of  the  works  that  Rossetti  carried  out  for  his  ducal 
patron  have  perished.  But  there  still  stands  San  Francesco, 
the    most  noteworthy  ecclesiastical  building  of   the  early 

*    Frizzi,  iv.  p.  166. 

a    On  September  19,  1501,  Ercole  wrote  to  Giovanni  Valla,  his 

aLml>aasador    in  Milan,  that  the  master  who  was  to  have  made 

tlie  model  of  the  horse  to  be  cast  in  metal  to  be  put  up  in  the  piazza 

of  X«rra  Nona  had  died,  and  no  one  here  could  finish  it.  Remembering 

-that  in  Milan  there  is  the  model  made  of  a  horse  that  the  Ix)rd 

Xxxiovico  bad  In  mind  to  have  cast,  "  which  model  was  made  by  a 

py£33ter  Leonardo,  who  is  a  good  master  in  things  of  this  kind,"  as  it 

is  not  being  used  and  is  getting  more  spoilt  every  day  by  neglect, 

Ixe  l>ids  him  ask  the  Cardinal  of  Rouen  for  it.     On  September  24, 

V^alla  answered  that  the  Cardinal  would  be  delighted  to  let  the 

X:>i*lte  have  it ;  but  that,  since  the  King  has  seen  it,  he  cannot  give 

it  ^thout  a  word  to  his  Majesty.    Valla  advises  the  Duke  to  instruct 

-p3jrtolommeo  de'  Cavallieri  to  speak  to  the  King  about  it.    G. 

C^tnVon,Nuovidocufnenti  per  la  vita  di  Leonardo  da  Vinci  (Modena, 

x»65)»  PP-  6,  7. 

4b  1 


DUKES  AND  POETS 

Renaissance  in  Ferrara,  with  its 
which  he  began  in  1494 ;  the  c 
Vado,  one  of  the  oldest  and  nn 
the  duchy  with  its  chapel  of  t 
rebuilt  by  him  a  little  later  (frc 
Grandi),  but  has  been  entirely  rea 
campanile  of  San  Giorgio  is  his. 
choir  of  the  Duomo,  also,  is  Roi 
the  most  beautiful  private  pala 
and  now  abandoned  to  squalid  p< 
bill — ^now  more  usually  called  th 
which  Lodovico  il  Moro  once  hope 
in  the  approaching  ruin  of  his 
reared  for  Ercole  the  princely 
cesco,  completed  the  Certosa,  I 
Benedetto.  There  was,  indeed,  h 
in  the  city  that  the  Duke  did  nc 
The  decoration  of  these  new  bi 
former  princes  had  reared,  the 
portraits  of  members  of  the  reign 
marriages  and  betrothals,  the  s 
ducal  theatre,  aiforded  occupati 
artists  and  craftsmen,  great  and  i 
of  Ercole's  reign,  the  prince  of 
Cosimo  Tura,  as  in  the  da}^  of  I 
marriage,  Ercole  commissioned  1 
himself  and  (amazing  example  0: 
of  that  age  in  these  matters) 
Lucrezia,  to  send  as  presents  to  1 
likewise  designed  the  nuptial  bee 

*  A.  Venturi,  VAtte  Ferrarese  net  p 

462 


THE  LAST  YEARS  OF  DUKE  ERCOLE 

-with  its  canopy  and  coverings,  and  a  wonderful  silver  side- 
board. He  painted  a  Madonna  for  the  Duke's  private 
sLpsLTtment  in  1475.  A  few  years  later,  he  decorated  his 
study  with  seven  paneb  representing  naked  women,  figure 
tttule  di  femmincy  probably  intended  for  the  three  theological 
and  four  cardinal  virtues.*  He  painted  the  Uttle  Alfonso's 
portrait  to  send  to  the  Duchess  Bona  in  1477,  and,  later  on, 
those  of  the  princesses,  Lucrezia,  Isabella  and  Beatrice,  to  be 
sent  to  their  future  husbands.  He  died  in  1495.  It  is 
doubtful  if  a  single  work  that  Tura  painted  for  Ercole 
has  survived,  and  if  there  still  exist  any  authentic  portraits 
(save  those  executed  for  Borso  in  the  Schifanoia)  from  his 
hand.  The  same  apphes  to  Baldassare  d'  Este,  who  lived 
through  the  greater  part  of  Ercole's  reign  ;  all  that  he  pro- 
duced during  this  epoch  has  perished,  with  the  doubtful 
exception  of  one  medal. 

To  Cosimo  Tura  as  chief  Court  painter  succeeded  his 
pupil,  Ercole  de'  Roberti,  a  member  of  that  noble  Reggiaix 
family  that  had  given  a  mistress  to  the  Marchese  Niccold  III 
and  a  mother  to  Rinaldo  and  Bianca  Maria.     Bom  somo 
time  after  1450,  his  earlier  work  appears  to  have  been  dono 
at  Bologna,  and  it  is  to  this  epoch  that  his  most  importaixt 
extant   picture  belongs :   the  Madonna   with   Pietro   degli 
Onesti,  painted  for  a  church  at  Ravenna  and  now  in  thxo 
Brera  at  Milan.    He  took  Cosimo  Tura's  place  at  Ferrarat 
in  1487.    A  Uttle  later  he  visited  Venice,  and  learned  t:o 
temper  the  harsh  style  of  his  master  with  the  softer  influ^ 
ence  of  the  young  Giambellino.    He  was  the  leading  artist 
in  the  festivities  for  the  marriage  of  Isabella  d'  Este,  painting 
the  chests  that  were  to  convey  her  belongmgs  to  Mantua, 


^  Venturi,  op.  cii.,  ii.  pp.  362,  363. 
463 


DUKES  AND  POETS  IN  F 

designing  and  directing  the  constructio; 
and  of  the  triumphal  chariot  upon  wl 
husband's  city.  We  have  seen  him 
to  Rome  on  the  accession  of  Alexanc 
of  Roberti's  death  in  1496,  he  was  engaj 
the  Duke  for  Isabella,  which  was  sent  x 
Very  few  of  his  works  have  been  preser 
Gallery  possesses  a  most  beautiful  exai 
in  the  "  Gathering  of  Manna  in  th 
Dudley  collection. 

Lorenzo  Costa,  the  connecting  li 
and  Bologna  in  painting,  although  s 
was  but  Uttle  employed  by  Duke  E 
wotdd  have  thought,  such  works  as 
pieces  with  which  he  filled  the  churcl 
have  strongly  appealed.  What  wo 
student  of  Ferrara  give  for  some  pi 
Herculean  circle,  analogous  to  that  ] 
with  which  G>sta  adorned  the  stud 
Isabella  and  which  is  now  one  of 
Louvre  ?  The  most  important  work 
or  follower,  Ercole  di  Giulio  Cesare  ' 
in  the  frescoed  ceilings  of  the  Palaz; 
not  belong  to  Ercole's  reign.  Wit 
Mazzolino  begins  a  new  generation 
which  lies  outside  the  scope  of  th 
already,  though  no  extant  picture  < 
to  a  date  earlier  than  some  five  yeaj 
the  one  great  master  of  Ferrarese  pa 
known  as  Dosso  Dossi,  had  been  bo 

Not  a  trace  of  the  Duke's  favouri 
vent  of  Santa  Caterina  da  Siena,   r 

464 


^ 


'4 


^ 
^^' 


THE  LAST  YEARS  OF  DUKE  ERCOLE 

we  can  still  trace  its  site  on  the  northern  side  of  the  Via 
Aria  Nuova,the  road  that  once  bore  the  name  of  St.  Catherine. 
It  is  uncertain  who  was  the  architect  whom  Ercole  employed 
to  give  the  design  of  the  church  and  convent ;  but  we  have 
many  records  of    the  pictures   that   adorned   it.      They 
ahnost  all  referred  to  the  Ufe  of  the  Seraphic  Virgin  of  Siena. 
The  decoration  was  carried  out  mainly  in  the  years  1503 
and  1504,  by  Antonio  Aleotti,  Geminiano  di  Bongiovanni 
and  Ettore  de'  Bonacossi,  painters  of  small  importance 
whose  works  have  perished,  but  of  whom  the  last  named 
is  interesting,  as  he  appears  to  have  belonged  to  the  family 
of    Savonarola's   mother.     Outside    the   convent   was    a 
fresco  of  St.  Catherine  receiving  the  Stigmata,  and  another 
of  her  holding  a  Crucifix ;  various  scenes  from  her  Ufe,  in  one 
of  which  she  was  represented  as  kissing  the  feet  of  her 
Divine  Spouse,  were  represented  in  tondi  in  the  cortile.     In 
Lucia's  private  loggietta  were  the  "  Agony  in  the  Garden,** 
the  "  Madonna  inspuing  St.  Bernard,"    "  St.  Jerome   in. 
the  Desert,"  while,  in  another  part  of  the  convent,  ther^ 
was  a  large  fresco  of  St.  Catherine  taking  a  number  of  nuns 
under  her  mantle.*    We  have  also  records,  in  the  accoun-t 
of  the  ducal  expenses,  of  pictures  (no  longer  extant)  specially 
painted  as  presents  from  Ercole  to  Lucia  in  1502  ;  a  head  of 
St.  John  the  Baptist,  by  Francesco  de'  Maineri  of  Parma  ; 
an  altar-piece,  by  a  certain  Niccolo  of  Pisa,  representing 
St.  Catherine  of  Siena  with  other  saints,  worshipped  by 
the  Duke  himself  and  others  of  her  clients  of  the  time.* 
There  are  few  of  the  many  lost  Ferrarese  pictures  that  the 
lover  of  Ercole  could  not  have  spared  rather  than  that. 

1  A.  Venturi,  op.  cit.^  ii.   (2)  pp.   373-375  ;    Gandini,  Lucrezia 
Borgia,  pp.  7,  8. 
^  A.  Venturi,  op.  cit.,  ii.  (2)  pp.  385  note  i,  394. 

465 


DUKES  AND    I 

The  death  of  Ercole  invo 
There  had  already  been  di* 
of  the  new  comers  had  left, 
it  is  even  said  that  one  of  t 
her.  Her  absolute  power  in 
Duke  showed  her,  certain  r 
of  the  black  veil,  all  combij 
disliked.  No  sooner  was  the 
and  malice  of  these  women  bl^ 
of  artificially  renewing  the  wo 
had  healed  or,  at  least,  become 
that  Pope  Alexander  had  grai 
she  was  deprived  of  all  authoj 
convent,  even  of  the  consolatic 
fessor.  She  was  then  not  twenty 
age  of  sixty-eight— that  is,  for  ne 
nims  kept  her  a  close  prisoner  it 
her  in  every  possible  way,  treatin 
criminal.  But  she  bore  it  all  h 
and  patience,  comforted  still  by 
with  St.  Catherine.  She  died  on  i 
soled  with  celestial  visions  and 
"  Having  obtained  from  the  Lord 
some  souls  from  the  pains  of  Pm^gat 
biographer,  "  before  she  received  tb( 
of  the  Eucharist,  she  asked  for  the 
of  Duke  Ercole  her  benefactor,  oi  om 
a  brother,  the  state  of  whose  souls  sh( 
special  revelation."  ^   When  dead,  the 

*  Giacomo  Marcianese,  Narraiione,  pp. 
recent  biographers  pass  over  the  alleged  a 
of  Lucia,  nor  have  we  any  record  as  to  whicl 

466 


THE    LAST  YEARS  OF  DUKE  ERCOLE 

revvilsion  of  feeling,  acclaimed  her  as  a  saint,  and  to  this  day 
ter  IxKiy,  st:range  relic  of  a  stranger  time,  is  venerated  in 
ihe  Ca.t:lieciraLl  of  the  city  that  had  seen  her  its  sovereign's 
Egeria.  a.xicl   afterwards  a  despised  captive. 

^^  it.       A.  oex-taln  Suora  Maria  of  Parma  was  made  superior,  and  the 
ma.jori"ty   of  -tlie  nuns  renewed  their  vows  to  her. 


467 


Chapti 

THE  POETS  OF  THE 

THE  one  supreme  poet  in 
Ercole's  reign  is  Mattec 
we  have  akeady  considered  i 
Tito  Vespasiano  di  Messer  Nam 
the  poets  who  sang  in  the  Lati 
even  more  prominent  figure  in  \ 
capital.  Messer  Tito  lived  in 
giving  lavish  entertainments  to 
sovereign's  efforts  in  the  restorat 
hospitality  to  foreign  potentates 
that  of  the  princes  of  the  House  of  1 
splendid  and  magnificent,"  writes 
Lorenzo  di  Fihppo  Stwzzi,  "in  h 
tions  in  his  house,  with  royal  mou 
the  presence  of  the  Lord  Duke  am 
rara."  *  Unfortunately,  he  played 
the  administration  of  the  city.  Ha 
the  Duke  as  commissary  in  Romagm 
posts,  he  was  made  Judge  of  the  Tweli 
1497,  and  entered  into  oflfice  "  with  vi 
perhaps,  greater  than  any  other  had  ev 
Strozzi  wotdd  have  us  believe  that  the 

^  Vile  degli  wmini  illustri  Ma  Casa  5 
a  Diario  Ferrarese,  col.  34;. 

468 


THE  POETS  OF  THE  HERCULEAN  CIRCLE 

to    this  office  "more  for  his  own  advantage  than  for  the 

benefit  of  the  said  Messer  Tito,"  and  that  "  he  administered 

tlie  p-ablic  affairs  with  the  good  will  of  the  people  and  to  the 

profit  of  his  sovereign."    But  his  Ferrarese  contemporaries 

tell  us  a  very  different  story.    Probably,  like  many  other 

Ferraxese  magnates,  he  used  his  official  position  as  a  means 

of    amassing  wealth,  especially  in  his  old  age,  when  his 

poetical  work  was  practically  done,    "  Messer  Tito  and  his 

sons,"  writes  the  Diarist  in  March,  1500,  "  are  universally 

detested  by  every  person  for  their  devouring  of  the  people 

and  for  their  cruel  oppression  "  ;  and  again,  a  little  later : 

"  Messer  Tito  Strozza  is  hated  by  the  people  worse  than 

the  Devil  is."  * 

By  his  wife,  Domitilla  de'  Rangoni  of  Modena,  Tito  had 
three  sons  :  Ercole,  Guide  and  the  younger  Lorenzo.    Ercole 
— who,  like  his  father,  latinised  their  surname  from  Strozzi 
to  Strozza  (on  the  same  principle  as  Petrarca  calling  himself    ^y 
Francesco   Petrarca  instead  of  Francesco  di  Petracco) — 
succeeded  him  as  the  chief  Latin  poet  of  the  Court.    Lame 
from    his  birth,  always  over-dressed  and  perfumed,  this 
scholarly  dandy  at  one  time  thought  of  entering  the  Church. 
When  Lucrezia  Borgia  came  to  Ferrara,  he  attached  him- 
self   to    her  service,  partly  because  he   hoped   to  gain   a 
Cardinal's  hat  through  her  influence  with  her  father.  Pope 
Alexander.*    For  the  rest,  he  strove  to  follow  in  his  father's 
footsteps,  with  scantier  means  at  his  disposal  but  no  less 
hated  by  the  people.    Of  his  vernacular  poetry,  the  one 
great  passion  that  inspired  it  and,  perhaps,  led  him  to 
his  death,  something  will  be  said  in  the  next  chapter.     A 
selection  of  the  Latin  lyrics  of  father  and  son  wats  collected 

1  Diario  Ferrarese,  coll.  382,401. 
*  Lorenzo  Strozzi,  op.  ciL,  p.  77- 
469 


DUKHS   AND 

and  published  together 
the  latter's  tragic  end,   I 

Coupled  by  Ariosto  \ 
chief  singer  of  Lucrezia' 
Antonio  Tebaldi,  who  si 
Tebaldeo.  He  was  bom  i 
time  instructed  Isabella  d' 
her  marriage,  he  left  Ferra 
Bentivoglio  at  Bologna, 
adulatory  poetry  on  the  t 
in  1496  invited  him  to  Man 
much  favour.  Thence  he  • 
1499,  entering  first  the  servi 
afterwards  that  of  Lucrezia 
morals  and  great  personal  be 
he  wandered  back  to  Mantua 
for  libelling  a  rival  poet  and  i 
Court  of  Leo  X.  He  lived  I 
Raphael  and  to  lose  all  he  had 
theless,  almost  all  his  poetry  1 
and  was  written  before  the  end 

This  poetical  work  of  Teba] 
a  nimiber  of  epistles,  capitoli 
They  are  partly  amorous,  pai 

*  Orlando  Furioso,  xlii.  S$. 

'  For  Tebaldeo,  see  especially  Lu: 
Eelaxioni  Lettetarie  di  Isabella  d*EsU 
V.  Rossi,  //  QuaitfocentOf  pp.  206,  2 
312-314.  My  quotations  are  iron 
printed  at  Modena,  1500.  The  first  & 
his  consent)  by  the  poet's  cousin 
with  a  dedication  to  the  Marchesana  Is 
loc.  cit.,  p.  204). 

470 


THE    POETS  OF  THE  HERCULEAN  CIRCLE 

are  especially   remarkable  for  their  exaggeration  of  the 
traditional    conceits  of  the  Petrarchists,  whose  imagery 
is  materialised  often  to  an  absurd  degree.    The  lover's  tears 
become   a   torrent  and  cause  the  floods  of  the  Po ;  Love 
riddles  tdm  with  his  darts,  until  he  can  use  him  as  his  quiver  ; 
he  needs   no  mask  in  carnival  time,  because  his  amorous 
troubles   have  made  him  such  a  walking  death  that  only 
Love  and    his  lady,  Flavia,  can  recognize  him.    Flavia's 
house  catches  fire,  but  her  beauty  inflames  the  firemen  so 
that  they  must  use  the  water  for  themselves.    When  she 
slips  on   the  ice  on  her  way  to  church,  an  analogous  ex- 
planation is  forthcoming : — 

Che  non  po  invidia  ?  invidia  dispersa  erra, 
Hor  questo  cor  et  hor  queUo  altro  speza, 
N6  sol  intrar  ne  gli  animanti  ^  aveza, 
Ma  in  le  cose  insensate  anchor  si  serra. 
Sendo  la  neve  qua  discesa  in  terra, 
E  vedendose  vincer  di  biancheza 
Da  Madonna;  disd^pio,  ira  e  tristeza 
Aghiazossi  per  farli  ingiuria  e  guerra  ; 
E  vedendola  un  giomo  andare  al  tempio, 
Cader  la  fe :  si  che  gli  mosse  un  braccio  ; 
Ma  forsi  il  del  dar  vnole  a  I'altre  exempio, 
Che  se  Madonna  ardea  si  come  io  faccio 
Gionta  mai  non  serebbe  a  tal  caso  empio, 
Chd,  a  chi  ama,  sotto  i  pid  se  stnigge  il  ghiaccio> 

I  ««  What  cannot  envy  do  ?  Envy  wanders  everywhere,  breaks 
now  this  heart  and  now  that  other ;  nor  only  into  living  beings 
is  it  wont  to  enter,  but  even  incloses  itself  in  senseless  things. 

*•  The  snow,  having  descended  here  on  earth  and  seeing  itself 
surpassed  by  my  lady  in  whiteness,  froze  with  disdain,  anger  and 
sorrow,  to  injure  and  make  war  upon  her. 

•'  And  seeing  her  one  day  going  to  church,  it  made  her  fall,  so 
that  she  sprained  her  arm  ;  but,  perchance.  Heaven  wished  to  give  an 
example  to  the  others ; 

"  For  if  my  lady  burned  as  I  do,  she  would  never  have  come  to 
so  cruel  a  plight,  for  ice  is  melted  beneath  the  feet  of  those  that 
love."    (Sonnet  loi.) 

47T 


DUKES  AND 
But  at  times  he  can 

Simplice  aventui 
Che  il  di  ti  sti 
Poi  quando  V 
Tomi  a  posar 

Lasso,  che  spersi 
Senza  quiete  a 
Vassene  la  mi< 
Come  dal  mar 

Tu  sol  temi  del 
Per  te  sta  vigii 
Che  fa  r  insidi 

£t  io  temo  del  o 
Contra  ho  fort 
Nd  r  arme  ale 

Those  of  his  soimets  i 
subjects,  though  somewl 
undoubted  interest  for  th 
dealing  with  the  French 
about  the  cruelties  of  th( 
had  led  to  their  downfall, 
and  her  manifest  decline  : 
may  be  taken  as  reflecting 
Francesco  and  the  House 
the  following  sonnet  strike: 

*  "  Simple,  fortunate  shepl 
the  flock  without  care,  and  th 
thou  retumest  to  rest  in  thy 

'*  Alas,  broken  up  between 
in  the  day  or  in  the  dark  nigl 
a  ship  that  is  tossed  by  the  s 

"  Thou  fearest  only  the  wo 
thee  against  such  war,  and  m^ 

"  And  I  fear  Heaven  and  ea 
the  human  race ;  nor  does  ai 
(Sonnet  67.) 


T^He 


POETS  OF  THE  HERCULEAN  CIRCLE 


^e  i  toi  campi  non  pose  il  pid  si  presto 

Hannibal  che  combatter  li  convienne^ 

Nd  mai  si  afflicta  il  Barbaro  ti  tenne 

Che  al  diffender  non  fnsse  il  tuo  cor  desto. 
^t  her,  Italia,  onde  precede  questo,  - 

Che  un  piccol  Gallo  che  V  altr*  ier  qui  venne  J, 

Per  ogni  nido  tuo  batte  le  penne,  (;* 

Senza  mai  ritrovarse  alcuno  infesto  ?  |j^ 

Ma  iusto  esser  mi  par  che  '1  del  te  abassi,  jj 

Che  -pitL  non  fai  Camilli  o  Sdpioni,  N. 

Ma  sol  Sardanapalli  e  Midi  e  Crassi.  i;- 

Oi4  una  occha  tua  (se  guardi  a  i  tempi  buoni)  |t; 

Scacdar  lo  puote  de  i  Tarpei  sassi ; 

Hor  aquile  non  pon^  serpi  e  leoni.^  Ji 

Another  sonnet,  condoling  with  the  Marquis  for  the  death  [.I 

•■^odolfo  Gonzaga  at  Fomovo,  opens  finely : — 

Lassa  i  suspir :  chd  non  convien  tal  atto 
A  Chi  ha  de  V  arme  Italice  il  govemo  ;  * 

but  hardly  keeps  up  the  strain.    He  has  a  whole  series  about 

a  bnst  or  statue  of  Beatrice  d*Este  Sforza  by  a  certain  Leone,  i 

and  a  single  sonnet,  by  no  means  without  charm  in  spite  of 

its  quaint  conceits,  on  the  death  of  Don  Alfonso's  first  wife, 

Anna  Sforza  d'Este  :— 

1  "  No  sooner  did  Hannibal  set  foot  in  thy  fields,  than  he  had  j 

-to   give  battle  ;  nor  ever  did  the  Barbarian  keep  thee  so  afflicted, 
l>at;  that  thy  heart  was  ready  for  defence. 

••  And,  no^,  Italy,  whence  proceeds  this,  that  a  little  Cock,  that  j 

came  here  but  yesterday,  beats  his  wings  over  every  nest  of  thine,  , 

^without  ever  meeting  a  single  foe  ? 

*'  But  it  seems  to  me  just  that  Heaven  cast  thee  down,  for  thou 
maltest  no  more  Camilli  or  Scipios,but  only  such  as  Sardanapalus 
SLTid  Midas  and  Crassus. 

«•  Of  old  a  goose  of  thine  (if  thou  lookest  back  to  the  good  times) 
^^ovild  drive  him  away  from  the  Tarpeian  rock  ;  now  eagles  can- 
Tiot,  nor  serpents  and  lions."    (Sonnet  220.) 

a  •*  Leave  thy  sighs  ;  for  such  things  befit  not  him  who  hath  the 
Y^le  of  the  armies  of  Italy."    (Sonnet  231.) 

47a  HM 


DUKES  AND  : 

Visto  Morte  dal  Mc 
A  CarlOy  che  s< 
De  che  V  emp 
Disse :  Impunit 

N6  in  polve  il  scriss 
£  cum  r  axco 
Anna  (fior  de'  5 
N6  mai  sotterra 

Chd  non  sendo  del  ' 
Morte,  quanto  c 
Tanto  si  fe  in  I 

Lassare  Italia  a'  Ga 
Potea  un  di  lib< 
Far  una  altra  o 

Decidedly  noteworthy  ii 
analogous  poems  that  Teb 
his  lyrics,  they  are  partly  ar 
of  the  House  of  Gonzaga. 
of  Italy,  the  corruption  of 
ing  peril  to  Christendom  fr 
Negroponte.  It  ends  in  a 
He  is  the  inheritor  of  Here 
name  "  ;  "  Italy  under  thy 
liberate  the  world  from  th 
Herculean  labour,  and  one  i 

*  **  When  Death  saw  that  the  A 
who  was  arming  himself  agair 
pected  much  prey),  she  said  :  1 1 

"  She  wrote  it  not  in  dust  bu 
her  bow  to  the  city  of  Ercole,  si 
the  Sforzas  ;   nor  ever  under  es 

"  For  Death,  not  being  quite 
cruel  and  relentless  in  the  strife 

"  To  leave  Italy  to  the  Gauls 
free  herself  ;  but  Nature  never 
like  this."     (Sonnet  254.) 

*  Capitolo  iv.     Per  dar  ripos 


THE  POETS  OF  THE  HERCULEAN  CIRCLE 

Fine  too  is  another,  in  the  form  of  a  letter  from  the  dead 
Rodolfo  Gonzaga  to  the  Marchese  Gian  Francesco ;  the  slain 
hero  describes  his  reception  in  Hades  by  the  spirits  of  his 
brother  Federigo  and  his  father  Lodovico  (father  and  grand- 
father, respectively,  of  the  man  that  he  is  addressing) ;  he 
urges  on  his  nephew  to  tread  in  the  paths  of  Scipio  ;  let  him 
not  mourn  for  his  death,  but  take  care  of  the  little  child  that 
he  has  left.^  Less  effective  is  a  similar  piece,  written  in  the 
name  of  Gian  Francesco  himself  and  describing  his  exploits  at 
Fomovo,  denying  that  he  had  entertained  any  negotiations 
with  the  French  King.*  These  poems  have  value  as  historical 
documents,  even  apart  from  thefr  literary  merits,  which  are 
appreciable. 

In  curious  contrast  to  the  courtier  Tebaldeo,  is  another 
poet,  whose  poems  are  practically  contemporaneous  with  his 
and  deal  in  part  with  the  same  cycle  of  events :  Antonio 
CammeUi,  called  "  II  Pistoia,"  from  the  Tuscan  city  where 
he  was  bom  in  1440.  It  is  not  known  why  or  when  Cam- 
meUi came  to  Ferrara ;  but,  from  1487  to  1497,  he  filled  the 
post  of  captain  of  the  Porta  di  Santa  Croce  at  Reggio.  A 
Uttle  later  he  was  given  the  same  ofl&ce  again,  at  the  inter- 
cession of  the  Marchesana  Isabella ;  but  he  seems  to  have  lost 
it  once  more,  and  from  1500  imtil  his  death,  in  1502,  he 
wandered  about  in  poverty  from  Court  to  Court. 

In  the  Lent  of  1499,  a  tragedy  by  CammeUi  was  played 

structed  Beltrando  Costabil  to  exhort  Pope  Alexander  to  take  more 
effectual  measures  against  the  Turks  and  excite  the  other  Povrers 

to  do  the  like.  "  COnsiH«>rincr  +>ia  trrt^ai-  Hanorer  in  whirK  4-u^  /^V,r4stian 


effectual  measures  against  the  Turks  and  excite  the  other  Povrers 
i  do  the  like,  "  considering  the  great  danger  in  which  the  Christian 
eligion  is  placed."     Archivio  di  Modena,  Minutario  Qronolog^^o* 

February  24,  1502. 


*  Capitolo  xii.     Se  pot  che  I  'alma  gid  disciolta  e  scarca. 

*  Capitolo  xiii.    Chi  disse  esser  felice  chi  non  nasce. 

475 


DUKES  AND 

before  the  Court  of  Ferrar 

ment  is  spoken  by  a  m 

himself  as  the  ghost  of  S 

moral  philosopher,  whose 

normal  time,  sent  by  Pk 

case  of  two  lovers  descri 

matter  of  fact,  the  play  h 

is  taken  directly,  with  ch; 

the  first  novella  of  the  f ( 

story  of  the  cruelty  used 

and  her  lover  Guiscardo. 

King  Demetrius  of  Thehi 

of  his  daughter  Pamfila,  ai 

upon  which  she  dies.    T 

species  of  pander,  upon  w 

the  vices  of  Courts.    The 

of  some  importance  as  bei 

tragedies.     It  is  divided 

ludes.  The  dialogue  is  in  / 

ally  that  between  the  Choi 

are  written  in  lyrical  meas 

Cammelli*s  chief  poetica 

nary  collection  of  caudate 

part  of  a  satirical  nature. 

he  represents  a  friend  as 

you  make  sonnets.    Are 

even  saw  a  hen  on  the  roac 

other !  *'  *  In  these  vivid  li 

*  Tragedia  de  Antonio  da  Pis, 
de  Ferrara,  Venice,  1508.    Cf. 
Tragedia  di  Antonio  Cammelli. 

*  Sonnet  35.     I  refer  throu^ 
/  Sonetti  del  Pistoia  giusta  I'af 


THE  POETS  OF  THE  HERCULEAN  CIRCLE 

and  the  conditions  of  the  times,  jests  at  his  poverty  and 
liviiniliation,  satirises  the  Duke's  officers  and  ministers. 
Nor  does  he  rest  there.  The  whole  society  of  Italy,  high 
and  low,  during  the  last  decade  of  the  Quattrocento  and  the 
beginning  of  the  following  century,  passes  before  our  eyes  ; 
we  see  the  simoniacal  election  of  Alexander  VI ;  follow  the 
nse  and  fall  of  Lodovico  il  Moro ;  and  mark  the  devout, 
pacific  bearing  of  Ercole,  the  difficulties  and  dangers  of  the 
minor  potentates  and  powers.  "With  them,"  writes 
Professor  Renier,  "  we  can  foUow  all  the  political  vicissi- 
tudes of  the  last  years  of  the  fifteenth  century,  seen  with  the 
eyes  of  a  courtier  poet,  enthusiastic  for  the  Moro  as  long  as 
he  was  potent,  but  not  refraining  from  assailing  him  (as 
usually  happens)  after  his  ruinous  fall."  *  Or,  if  we  prefer, 
we  can  watch  the  ladies  of  the  epoch  at  their  toUet,  and 
study  the  rival  claims  to  supremacy  in  beauty  of  the 
women  of  all  the  chief  cities  of  Italy.' 

Nowhere,  in  the  poetry  of  those  daj^,  do  we  find  a  nobler 
note  than  that  struck  by  II  Pistoia  in  his  sonnet  on  the 
shameful  victory  of  Fornovo  :— 

Pass6  il  Re  franco,  Italia,  a  tuo  dispetto, 
Cosa  che  non  fe  mai  1  popul  romano, 
Col  legno  in  resta  e  con  la  spada  in  mano. 
Con  nemici  a  le  spalle  e  innanti  al  petto. 

^esare  e  Scipion,  di  eui  ho  letto, 

I  nemici  domor  di  mano  in  mano ; 

1  Of.  at.,  p.  xxxi 

a  The  Florentines  (says  the  poet)  appear  beautiful,  but  in  reality 
are  terribly  painted  and  made  up  ;  the  women  of  Siena  are  perfectly 
tieavenly,  and  the  Sienese  men  are  utterly  unworthy  of  them  ;  there 
are  still  some  beautiful  ladies  among  the  Ferrarese,  but  not  like 
wbat  they  were  before  the  Venetian  invasion,  "  when  we  saw  the 
Slavonians  bridge  the  Po  "  ;  the  Milanese  are  too  fat  and  over- 
dressed, and  behave  at  table  like  Germans.    Sonnets  i6, 17, 18, 19- 

477 


DUKES  AND 

E  costui^  com< 
Mordendo  quei 

Matre  vituperata  d 
Se  Cesare  acqt 
Insubri,  Galli, 

Concubina  di  Mida 
Ch'  hai  dato  a 
Discordia  con 
Chd  con  p 
In  sul  transirti 
Tutti  i  tuoi  fig 

Sia  come 
S«  ben  del  mo 
Mai  non  si  estj 

No  less  eloquent  is  the 
Pope  Alexander  and  his  ] 

Ruina  de'  Cristian, 
Per  simonia  coi 
Da  cui  6  fatto 
Con  omicidi,  st 

Al  primo  successor  I 

Sol  per  pescar  i 

E  tu,  d*  Qgn'  o: 

,  Tien*  de  la  fade 

Cosi  mal  vanno  le  c 
In  man  d'un  si 

1  "  The  French  King  has 
that  the  Roman  people  never 
in  hand,  with  foes  at  his  bac! 

"  Caesar  and  Scipio,  of  who 
hand  to  hand  ;  and  he,  like 
and  that,  has  passed  clear  a\ 

'*  Mother  disgraced  by  the  I 
conquest  of  Insubrians,  Gauls 

**  Concubine  of  Midas,  foe  t 
the  hands  of  Venus,  discord  a 

"  For,  with  little  labour,  as 
all  thy  children  became  hens 
thou  didst  acquire  the  empire 
grace  be  wiped  out."    (Sonne 


THE  POETS  OF  THE  HERCULEAN  CIRCLE 

B*    ogn'  or  guidare  a  le  sue  concubine. 
Tutto  quel  che  tu  fai  iustizia  elegge ; 

II  ciel  pien  d'  ira  ha  in  sen  le  tue  mine 
Perchd  il  ciel  sempre  un  mal  vivo  non  regge. 

Crudde  a  la  tua  legge  ! 
Nova  pena  per  te  la  terra  ordisce  * 

Se  il  gallo  a  F  angue  mai  per  te  se  unisce. 

Scacciaranno  le  bisce 
II  famelico  verme  iniquo  e  tristo, 
Che  divora  la  Croce  e  Jesu  Cristo.* 

\^rhile  the  throng  listened  to  the  words  of  Fra  Girolamo, 

II  Pistoia  had  scoffed.    Thus,  just  after  Fomovo : — 

Ogni  predicator  si  fa  indovino  : 
Hanne  Firenze  un  si  speculativo, 
Che  molti  Fiorentin  non  bevon  vino.* 

And  again,  when  Maximilian — "  il  noyo  Costantino  " — is  at 
Pisa,  he  is  more  emphatically  contemptuous : — 
Al  suon  d'  una  campana 

II  popul  fiorentin  va  tutto  in  macchia, 

Credulo  al  gamilar  d'  una  comacchia. 

*  "  Ruin  of  Christians,  thou,  false  priest,  with  simony  hast  bought 
the  divine  cult ;  by  thee  has  the  holy  temple  become  perverted  with 
fxiurder,  rapine  and  money. 

••  For  the  first  successor  sufficed  the  net  only,  to  fish  for  a  faithful 
tbxong  to  God ;  and  thou  every  hour  with  some  new  outrage 
boldest  the  secret  keys  of  the  Faith. 

••  Thus  ill  go  things  divine  in  the  hand  of  a  simoniac,  who  con- 
tinually lets  his  concubines  guide  the  flock. 

**  Justice  chooses  all  that  thou  dost ;  Heaven  full  of  wrath  hath 
thy  ruin  in  store,  because  it  will  not  suffer  an  evil  liver  for  ever. 

**  Cruel  to  thy  law  I  The  earth  is  preparing  a  new  penalty  for 
thee^  if  the  Cock  ever  through  thee  unites  with  the  Snake.  The 
Vipers  will  hunt  out  the  ravening  worm,  wicked  and  fell,  that  is 
devoiiring  the  Cross  and  Jesus  Christ."  (Sonnet  369.  In  all  these 
sonnets,  there  is  the  obvious  play  upon  gallo,  "cock"  or**  Gaul." 
The  Snake  and  Vipers  are  the  Sfbrza.) 

a  ••  Every  preacher  becomes  a  diviner.  Florence  has  one  of  them 
so  speculative,  that  many  Florentines  drink  no  wine."  (Sonnet  326.) 

479 


I 
i 


DUKES  AND  POE 

O  Dio  che  nova  ma 
Chd  per  simplicity  son  < 
£  vendevon  I'astuzia  a 

But,  after  the  Friar's  fall  and 

with  reverence : — 

Pover  Marzocco,  come  t 
*  *  * 

II  irate  che  a  Cristo  en 
Ucciso  hai  per  paura  d'l 

Most  successful  of  all  Can 
those  m  the  form  of  dialogue 
dispute  between  the  Cardinal, 
the  latter  tries  to  force  his  ^ 
reverend  and  illustrious  Lords 
and  naturally  does  not  find  h 
finer  is  the  scene  between  the  i 
and  the  demon  Farfarello,  coi 
claim  his  prey  at  the  gates  oi 

Toe  I — Chi  batte  ? — Amici, 

— Come  ti  chiami  ? — Da 

— Ah  ah  1  io  el  so,  il  tu( 

Su  su  a  la  forca,  a  la 

Per  te  non  fu  fondato  q 

FiH  giii  te  aspetta  un 

— Lasciami  venir  qui  « 

— No  no,  altro  ti  vuol 

— Bu  bu — Chi  abbaia  ?— 

— Chi  sei  tu  che  mi  el 

^  "  At  the  sound  of  a  bell  the  peo] 
credulous  in  the  chattering  of  a  c 
By  their  simplicity  are  they  almosi 
sell  cunning  to  all  the  world."     (S 

*  "  Poor  Marzocco,  how  is  thy  1 
broker  with  Christ,  hast  thou  slain 

364.) 

•  Sonnet  144. 

4> 


THE  POETS  OF  THE  HERCULEAN  CIRCLE 


— Che  cosa  vuoi  da  me  ? — Questo  latrone, 
Che  al  del  per  crudeltd  si  fe  rubello  ; 

lo  ti  dico  da  parte  di  Plutone 
Che  gli  d  per  carta  suo :  ecco  0  libello. 

— lo  non  voglio  esser  quello 
Che  a  nissnn  patto  1'  altrui  preda  toglia  ; 
Piglialo,  menal  via,  fa  la  tua  voglia. 

— Civati  f6r  la  spoglia, 
Cammina,  traditor,  che  ogni  martire 
Sard  poca  vivanda  al  tuo  fallire.^ 

Every  phase  in  the  complicated  struggles  and  intrigues 
from  the  battle  of  Foraovo  to  the  downfall  of  the  Moro  finds 
echo  in  Cammelli's  later  sonnets.  .  In  one  of  the  latest, 
Italia,  U  Turco  men,  he  exhorts  the  princes  and  potentates 
of  Italy  to  lay  aside  their  private  quarrels  and  hatreds,  to 
unite  against  the  conunon  foe : — 

A  te  serit  vergogna, 
Re  franco,  a  mover  contra  Italia  piede, 
Chd  a  te  s'  aspetta  mantenir  la  fede. 


^**Tocl  P.  Who  knocks?  Z.  Friends,  just  open  to  me.  P.  What 
is  tliy  name  ?  Z.  Gr^orio  of  Lucca.  P.  Ah,  ah !  I  know  it, 
thy  name  is  notorious  ;  hence  to  the  gallows,  to  the  axe,  to  the  fire. 
This  place  was  not  made  for  thee  ;  another  consistory  awaits  thee 
lower  down.  Z.  Let  me  come  hither  with  thy  aid.  P.  No,  no, 
elsewhere  the  cook  will  make  it  hot  for  thee. 

"Bote,  mow/  P.  Whois  barking?  F.  Peter,  do  me  justice.  P.  Who 
art  thou  that  callest  me  ?  F.  FarfareUo.  P.  What  wantest  thou 
from  me  ?  p.  This  great  robber,  who  by  his  cruelty  hath  rebcUed 
against  Heaven.  I  teU  thee,  in  the  name  of  Pluto,  that  he  is  his  by 
script;  here  is  the  book. 

'•  P.  I  would  not  be  the  man  to  take  away  another's  prey  on  any 
account.  Seize  him,  take  him  away,  do  thy  wiU!  F.  Come  out  of 
that  and  march,  traitor;  for  every  torment  will  be  little  recompense 
for  thy  wickedness."    (Sonnet  84.) 

Sonnets  83,  85,  86  are  upon  the  same  subject.  An  anonjrmous 
sonnet  and  ballata  on  the  death  of  2Sampante  are  in  the  T>iario 
Ferrarese,  col.  332.     Cf.  above,  p.  326. 

481 


^i 


mv 


DUKES 

JE  s 
XJn  <ii  £ 
E  d'  Ita 

And  in  the  French 
Sforza,  he  discerns 
dence  of  Italy  : — 

Tu  sei  pr 
Tu  sei  ca* 
£  elii  que 

In  the  last  sonnet 
Italy,  "dismembered 
down  and  body  genuf 
in  her  history  which  I 

Ma  perchd 
Ne  aspettar 
Nella  qua]  i 
E  forse, 
Prima  che  g 
II  nostro  Inn 

Although  but  sparin 
CanimeUi  had  a  fervent 
On  June  13, 1502,  a  few 
she   wrote  to  Niccolo  d 

*  "  Shame  will  it  be  to  th 
Italy,  for  we  look  to  thee  to  1 
taken,  one  day  this  savage  be 
France."  (Sonnet  373.) 

*  "  Thou  art  a  prisoner,  an 
fallen  and  Italy  is  fallen;  anc 
(Sonnet  sS6,) 

"  But  since  one  season  dc 
another,  bad  or  good,  in  whic 
perchance,  for  our  iJl  luck,  befc 
our  light  will  be  without  any  oil. 
faito  adesso  de  Italia.) 


r^', 


THE    POETS  OF  THE  HERCULEAN  CIRCLE 

lived,  he  offered  and  promised  many  times  to  put  together  V 

iti  one  ivork  all  the  things  composed  by  him,  and  to  entitle 
them  to    us  ;   but,  since  time  has  failed  him,  he  has  not  -^ 

been   able  to  accomplish  this.    We  understand  that  your  f 

Lordship  has  been  at  pains  to  collect  them  and  make  a  codex  '; 

of  them,  v^hich  pleases  us  much,  and  we  praise  you  for  this 
most  pious  deed.    But  we  remind  you  that  you  must  not 
deprive  us  of  that  right  which  we  have  in  them  by  the  disposi- 
tion and  bequest  of  the  poet."     Needless  to  say,  the  Count 
promptly  reassured  his  illustrious  correspondent :  "  I  reply 
to  your  Ladyship,"  he  wrote,  "  that  not  only  do  I  desire 
that  you  should  have  these  things  of  the  Pistoia,  but  from 
as  many  excellent  poets  as  the  world  possesses."  * 

This  correspondence  connects  two  of  the  most  conspicuous 
Court  poets  of  Ercole's  circle  together,  and  with  Isabella- 
>Ve  have  already  frequently  met  with  the  Duke's  nephew, 
Niccold  da  Correggio,  who  was  bom,  as  we  saw,  in  1450- 
Courtier  and  soldier,  he  played  a  leading  part  in  almost: 
every    Ferrarese  festivity,   and,  as  a  condottiere   of  tho 
Dukes  of  Milan,  fought  in  every  warlike  enterprise  under- 
taken by  the  House  of  Sforza  in  Italy.    He  had  married 
Cassandra,  one  of  the  daughters  of  the  great  Bartolommeo 
Colleoni,  a  lady  of  great  wit  and  beauty,  who  sumptuously- 
entertained  the  French  ambassador  on  his  way  from  Piacen^a. 
to  Ferrara  to  assist  at  the  wedding  of  Lucrezia  Borgia.* 

1  Isabella's  letter  and  Niccold's  answer,  in  Renier,  op.  oit,  pp.  via,  / 

ix.  Similarly,  we  find  Jacopo  Tebaldi  writing  to  Isabella  about 
liis  cousin's  poems :  "  In  his  book  I  have  found  a  sonnet  which 
sliiows  me  that  his  intention  has  always  been  to  dedicate  this  work 
to  thy  lofty  name.  I  would  not  that  my  theft  should  deprive  thee 
of  any  of  thy  rights ;  but  have  entitled  the  little  book  to  thee." 
i:>edicatory  letter  prefixed  to  Tebaldeo's  sonnets.  / 

•  Cagnolo  in  Lucrezia  Borgia  in  Ferrara,  pp.  34»  35-  / 

483 


/ 


DUKES 

Although  Ariosto 
of  the  praises  of  B 
even  more  pronoiu 
who  opens  his  mou 
of  my  iQost  illust 
Marchioness/'  he  v 
words  of  the  Holy 
**  He  was  certainly  k 
his  modem  biograph 
ingenious  and  clever 
composed  verses  and 
of  much  more  avail  in 
value  of  those  poor  rh 
wrote  for  the  ducal  tli 
e  di  Aurora^  a  play 
Metamorphoses,  on  the 
very  same  that  a  contei 
in  line  and  colour  at  F 
in  the  National  Galler 
octaves,  the  choral  inte 
Represented  in  1487,  i< 
Italian  drama  after  the  0 
in  every  respect  to  i\s  p 
1491,  Niccold  wrote  for  Is 
rima^  partly  derived  froir 
with  the  singer's  own  \o\ 

•  Letter  of  August  10,  151 
Carreggio,  ii.  p.  69. 

•  LuzioandRenier,(7/>.  «/.,p 

•  The  two  works,  Innamoran 
Favola  di  Cefalo,  are  published 
1 507.  A  selection  of  Niccol6's  i 
op.  oil,,  iv, 

4 


THE    POETS  OF  THE  HERCULEAN  CIRCLE 

There  is,  if  I  mistake  not,  a  touch  of  genuine  inspiration  in 
one  of  liis  earlier  Isnics,  the  sonnet  written  from  his  Venetisin 
prison,  after  the  disastrous  battle  of  Argenta  in  1482,  urging 
Ferrara.  to  submit  to  the  inevitable  : — 

Vedova,  sola,  ottenebrata  e  scura, 

Ti  v^gio,  alma  Ferrara,  in  tanti  afEanni, 
Che  s'  io  contemplo  a  li  passati  danni, 
Del  tuo  sterminio  in  tutto  ho  gran  paura. 
Veggio  U  campo  nemico  alle  tue  mura, 
Che  visser  gi4  padfiche  tant'  anni. 
Temo  or  le  forze,  era  i  civili  inganni, 
Se  il  Ciel  non  ha  di  te  per  piet^  cura. 
Io  t'amo.    Tu  sai  ben,  ch'  io  n*  ho  cagione. 
Deh !  perchd  non  deponl  omai  V  orgoglio  ? 
Chd  sai :  sol  V  umilt^  vince  il  Leone. 
PiA  che  di  mia  prigion  di  te  mi  doglio ; 
Che  poi  che  vedi  in  1'  arme  la  ragione, 
Vogli  schivare  il  porto  e  dar  nel  scoglio.^ 

In  a  very  Umited  sense,  the  mantle  of  Boiardo  may  be 
said  to  have  fallen  upon  a  minor  poet  of  a  different  stamp ; 
Francesco  Bello,  called  because  of  his  blindness  II  Cieco,  or 
Francesco  Orbo  da  Ferrara.  Recent  researches  have  shown 
that  he  was  not  one  of  those  two  blind  poets  who,  in  1477, 


*  "  Widowed  and  alone,  overwhelmed  with  darkness,  do  I  see 
tliee,  kind  Ferrara,  in  so  great  torments  that,  if  I  contemplate 
tliy  past  losses,  I  have  great  fear  of  thy  total  destruction. 

' '  I  see  the  hostile  army  at  thy  walls,  which  have  lived  in  peace 
so  many  years.  Violence  and  civic  treachery  I  fear  alike,  unless 
Heaven  for  pity  takes  care  for  thee. 

"  I  love  thee.  Thou  knowest  weU  that  I  have  cause.  Ah  !  why 
<lost  not  henceforth  lay  aside  thy  pride  ?  for  thou  knowest  humility 
a.lone  conquers  the  Lion. 

"  More  than  for  my  own  imprisonment  I  grieve  for  thee,  who, 

since  thou  appealest  to  the  arbitrament  of  arms,  wilt  shun  tlic 

liarbour  and  break  upon  the  rock  "  (In  Sanudo,  Vite  dei  Duchi  di 

Venezia,  col.  1226.     I  have  taken  a  slight  liberty  in  reading  che  vedi 

lor  ch*  i'  vidi  in  the  penultimate  line). 

485 


DUKES  Af 

sang  at  the  supper-pa 
brothers  in  the  Palazj 
Mambriano,  was  comf 
at  Bozzolo,  where  Gia: 
Marchese  Gian  France 
"  I  send  Francesco  Oj 
former  from  Bozzolo 
"  in  order  that  you,  toe 
in  his  singing,  which  ge 
when  you  shall  think  i 
back,  because  here  I  ha 
to  him."  *  After  his  ] 
settled  in  Mantua,  whe 
died  a  few  years  later. 
The  Mambriano  is  a  ] 
some  extent  after  the  r 
though  conspicuously  ir 
We  have  the  same  min 
dements,  of  exa^erat< 
enchantments,  and,  tho 
serious  than  Boiardo,  th 
references  to  the  authorit) 
too,  at  intervals,  and  the< 
parts  of  the  poem.*    The 

1  G.  Rua,  PostUle  su  ire  P. 
Letteratura  Italiana,  xi.  p.  296 
and  Francesco  da  Firenze. 

2  G.  Rua,  op,  dt,  p.  294. 

3  For  II  Cieco,  see  especial 
A  full  analysis  of  the  poem  w 
Romantic  Narrative  Poetry  of  i 
have  translated  Statius.  He 
to  a  prelate  of  the  House  of 
mondo  ;  but,  in  the  edition  pi 


THE  POETS  OF  THE  HERCULEAN  CIRCLE 

are,  strictly  speaking,  concerned  with  the  ostensible  subject 
of  the  work.     They  tell  us  of  the  war  waged  upon  Charle- 
magi^®  and  the  Christians  of  France  by  Mambriano,  King 
of    Bithynia*  who  has  vowed  to  destroy  Montalbano  to 
avenge  his  kinsman  Mambrino,  whom  he  supposes  to  have 
been  treacherously  slain  by  Rinaldo.    Alternating  with  this 
are  adventures  of  the  paladins  Orlando  and  Astolfo  in  Spain 
and  Airica — Astolfo  being  again  a  comic  character  and  fairly 
successful.  The  enchantress  Carandina  exercises  her  arts  on 
l>otli  Mambriano  and  Rinaldo,  holding  the  latter  in  amorous 
bondage  while  the  invader  routs  Charlemagne  and  besieges 
Bradainante  in  Montalbano.    Released  by  Malagigi's  sor- 
ceries, Rinaldo  defeats  Mambriano,  pursues  him  into  Asia 
and  conquers  him,  partly  by  force,  partly  by  magnanimity. 
Mambriano  marries  Carandina,  and  the  other  enchantress, 
Fnlvia,  is  similarly  converted  from  the  errors  of  her  ways. 
It  is  probable  that  the  poem  originally  ended  with  the  sub- 
mission of  Mambriano  and  his  aUiance  with  the  victorious 
Rinaldo.    But,  possibly  after  his  removal  from  Bozzolo  to 
Mantua  and  at  the  instance  of  his  new  patrons,  the  poet 
sings  on  again  in  nineteen  cantos  practically  unconnected 
with   what  has   gone   before.      He  gives  his  hearers  the 
exploits  of  Rinaldo's  son  Ivonetto,   Orlando's   pilgrimage 
to  Compostda,  fresh  sorceries  of  Malagigi  for  the  benefit  of 
his    cousin,  and  other  episodes  which  have  nothing  to  do 
with  the  rest  of  the  story.   And  now,  as  in  Boiardo's  poem, 
political  echoes  begin  to  be  heard— as  we  should  expect 
with    a  Court  poet  of  the  victor  of  Fomovo.     The  blind 
poet  is  at  first  enthusiastic  for  the  coming  of  King  Charles, 
and  proposes  to  celebrate  his  glories  in  song : — 

that  he  had  intended  to  recast  the  beginning  of  the  poem  and 
dedicate  it  to  Ippolito  d'  Este. 

487 


DUKES  Al 

Perseo, 
E  vedi  di 
Che  '1  non 
N6  le  iiov€ 
Bisogno  c' 
E  d'  altre 
A  voler  eel 
Del  novo  C 

Costui  in 
Che,  se  '1  f 
Nui  lo  vedr 
A  Cesare  e 
E  rinfranca] 
Ad  onta  di 
Gi4  son  mo] 
Profanameni 

But  in  the  next  cantc 
ally  with  the  newly  for 
gallica  nebbia,  this  G< 
down  the  Alps  and  tinj 
with  blood;  and,  a  little 
away  his  thoughts  from 
to  lay  down  the  lyre,  seei 
Italy.** »      At  last,  in  t 

*  "  Perseus,  mount  again 
a  laiger  fountain,  for  the  an 
the  nine  sisters  united  togetl 
Muses  more  talented  and  r 
history  the  lofty  memory  of  i 

"  He  in  brief  while  has  a 
corresponds  to  the  great  begi 
and  the  vaunt  from  Caesar 
liberate  the  beauteous  Holy 
many  years  has  held  it  [insla^ 
fanely  to  our  disgrace  "  (xxxi 

2  xxxii.  I  ;  xxxvi.  i,  2. 


THE  POETS  OF  THE  HERCULEAN  CIRCLE 

invasion  in  1496,  he  breaks  off  at  the  end  of  Canto  xlv— 
practically  at  the  same  point  that  he  had  reached  nine- 
teen cantos  before— with  the  triumphal  return  of  his 
paladins  to  Paris  :— 

Nel  qual  tripudio  con  giubilo  e  festa 
Voglio  lassarli  e  terminar  V  historia, 
CW  '1  furor  de  la  gallica  tempcsta 
Mi  tra  gli  antichi  fuor  de  la  memoria, 
E  non  mi  lassa  far  piil  manifesta 
Secondo  il  consueto  la  lor  gloria ; 
Anri  per  forza  mi  constringe  e  move 
A  transmutar  le  cose  vecchie  in  nove. 

Basta  ch'  io  v*  ho  condutti  i  paladini 
A  la  lor  patria  vittoriosi  e  sani, 
£  soggiugati  tutti  i  Saracini 
Che  volean  molestar  nostri  Cristiani, 
E  narrato  oltra  i  gesti  peregrini 
De  Renaldo  e  de  gli  altri  capitani. 
In  che  modo  il  superbo  Mambriano 
Fu  fatto  tributario  a  Carlo  Mano. 

E  perchd  da  costui  ho  incominciato, 
Se  '1  non  displace  a  vostra  signoria, 

10  vo  che  Mambrian  sia  intitnlato 

11  libit)  ove  d  fondata  V  opra  mia ; 
Chd  simel  titol  da  Turpin  gli  6  date, 
Scrittor  famoso  il  qual  non  scriveria 
Per  tutto  Tor  del  mondo  una  menzogna, 
E  chi  il  contrario  tien  vaneggia  e  sogna.^ 


1  "  In  this  triumph  with  jubilee  and  rejoicing  am  I  fain  to  leave 
mem  and  end  the  story,  for  the  fury  of  the  GaUic  tempest  draws  the 
ancients  out  of  my  memory,  and  lets  mc  not  manifest  any  more  their 
glory  according  to  my  wont ;  nay,  by  force  it  compels  and  moves  me 
to  transform  old  things  into  new. 

-  It  is  enough  that  I  have  brought  you  the  paladins  victorious 
and  sound  to  their  native  land,  and  subdued  all  the  Saracens  who 
wished  to  molest  our  Christians,  and  further  narrated  the  wondrous 

489 


DUKES  AN 

In  the  poetry,  as  in 
the  artist  was  already 
all  the  rest :  E  naio  chi  I 
the  mighty  Dantesque 
of  G)unt  Niccold  and 
Ariosti,  both  of  when 
circumstances  in  the  < 
Reggio  in  September, 
the  office  of  captain  of 
Count  Niccolo  with  his 
the  young  Lodovico,  th 
old,  had  his  first  sight 
(then  awakening  to  a  r 
horrors  of  the  Venetian 
to  be  associated  with  hi 
making  the  boy  study 
vico's  tastes  were  for  lit 
1493,  he  had  been  one 
Ercole  took  with  him 
comedies  before  the  Due 
The  first  poem  of  his  t 
written  on  the  occasion  c 
in  the  following  Octobei 
in  terza  rimay  in  parts  in 
passing  away  of  Laura 

deeds  of  Rinaldo  and  the  0 
Mambriano  was  made  tribut 

"  And  because  I  have  bej 
your  Lordship,  I  would  have  1 
entitled  Mambriano  \  for  a  li: 
writer  who  would  not  write 
who  holdeth  the  contrary  ra 

1  See  above,  chapter  vii. 


THE  POETS  OF  THE  HERCULEAN  CIRCLE 

After  this,  probably  gratified  at  his  success,  his  father 
left  Lodovico  free  to  foUow  his  own  bent.  Under  the 
guidance  of  the  humanist  Gregorio  da  Spoleto,  he  plunged 
into  the  Latin  poets,  and  began  himself  to  compose  poems 
in  their  language.  He  grew  intimate  with  his  fellow-pupil 
under  Gregorio,  the  afterwards  famous  Alberto  Pio  of  Carpi,* 
and  with  Ercole  Strozzi ;  a  little  later,  he  got  to  know  Pietro 
Bembo,  probably  through  one  or  other  of  the  Strozzi. 

1*his  first  period  of  Ariosto's  life  was,  in  Carducci's  much 

nuoted  phrase,  tuUa  latina.    All  the  poems  that  he  wrote 

were  in  the  language  and  measures  of  the  ancients,  Catullus, 

Horace  and  Tibullus  being  his  usual  models  ;  they  are  partly 

cjdressed  to  the  three  friends  above  mentioned  and  to  the 

Vjelov^d  kinsman,  Pandolfo  di  Malatesta  Ariosti,  who  shared 

His  tastes  and  studies,  partly  to  women.    One  of  his  first 

^^ftiS  that  we  can  date  with  certainty  is  an  ode  in  alcaic 

tan^^s,  Ad  Philiroem,  written  in  the  summer  of  1496,  when 

Cb^^^  VIII  was  at  Lyons  and  a  new  French  invasion  was 

Houtly  expected.    In  amorous  dalliance  with  sweet  PhyUis 

^nong  ^^  flowers,  watching  the  reapers  at  their  work, 

vroung  Lodovico  can  jest  at  the  rumours  of  Gallic  fleets  and 

^.j^ies,  and  the  threatened  downfall  of  his  country,  turribus 

izusoniis  ruinam  :   **  Me  nulla  tangat    cura !  *'     Thus  the 

oritited  version  of  the  ode ;  but  in  the  original  sketch  there 

vvere  four  other  stanzas  interposed,  which  the  poet  chose  to 

otttlt  and  which  give  another  aspect  to  his  indifference.    They 

struck  at  the  mercenary  soldiers  who  shed  their  blood  for 

^old,  at  the  cupidity  and  ingratitude  of  the  Italian  despots, 

Avlio  robbed  the  children  of  those  whose  service  had  made 

1  In  consequence  of  the  perpetual  quarrels  in  the  Pio  faniily, 
Ercole  practically  annexed  Carpi  to  the  Duchy  of  Ferrara  in  1500, 
leaving  Alberto  only  a  nominal  and  partial  possession. 

491 


DUKES  AN 

them  great.*  In  a  di: 
spirit,  are  the  lines  in  i 
after  the  French  conquc 

Quid  nostra  sat  GalJ 
Si  sit  idem  hinc  s 

Barbaricone  esse  est 
Moribus  ?  At  ducil 

Somewhat  remarkable, 
lamium  which  Ariosto  c< 
Alfonso  with  Lucrezia  Bi 
Herculean  and  Romulean 
the  one  band  rejoicing  in 
Ferrara,  the  other  bewaili 
suffered — ^but  both  agreei 
lady  as  pulcherritna  Virgo 

But  now  Ariosto,  after 
whole  care  of  his  family  up 
to  appeal  for  aid  to  the 
captain  of  the  Rocca  of  Cai 
where  he  loved  and  sang  in 
the  great  work  in  which  h< 
had  left  unfinished.  In  the 
service  of  the  Cardinal  Ip 
death  of  Ercole  and  accessio 

1  Carm.  i.  8;  Carducci,  Delit 
pp.  88-90. 

2  "  What  matters  it  to  us  whe 
King,  if  there  be  the  same  hard  1 
to  be  under  a  barbarian  name  th 
Gods,  give  their  deserts  to  these  ( 

'  Carm.  i.  4. 


Chapter  XIV 

THE  END  OF  THE  HERCULEAN  AGE 

1^0  sooner  had  the  news  of  the  old  Duke's  death  spread 
•^^     through  the  city  than   Tito  Strozzi,  Judge  of  the 
Twelve  Sages  and,  therefore,  nominally  the  representative  of 
the  people  of  Ferrara,  solemnly  came  to  the  Castello  and  con- 
signed the  sceptre  and  sword  to  Alfonso,  recognizing  him. 
as  sovereign.     Dressed  in  white  and  wearing  the  ducal  cap, 
Alfonso  rode  in  state  through  the  city,  between  the  CardinaX 
Ippolito  and  the  Visdomino  of  Venice,  preceded  by  th^ 
Cavaliere  Giulio  Tassoni  bearing  the  ducal  sword,  followe<i 
by  Don  Ferrando  and  the  other  members  of  the  reigning^ 
House,   the  nobles  and  magistrates  on  horseback,   wittx 
mounted  crossbowmen  and  men-at-arms,  to  the  sound  of 
martial  music.    As  they   rode   through   the   vast   crowci 
in  the  piazza,  Alfonso  turned  to  the  Visdomino :   *'  Wh^ti 
think  you  of  this  people?"  "A  goodly  folk,  my  lord,,"** 
answered  the  Venetian.     "  I  should  not  care  to  live,"  said 
the  Duke,  "  if  this  people  and  I  did  not  bestir  ourselves  i^^^^ 
the  service  of  the  most  illustrious  Signoria."     Before  tH^^ 
high  altar  of  the  Duomo,  Alfonso  took  the  solemn  oath   o:f 
governing  well  and  performing  justice  to  his  people,  into  tlx^ 
hands  of  the  Cardinal.    A  heavy  storm  of  snow  and  wixxd 
had  raged,  as  the  Duke  and  his  train  passed  through  tlx^ 
streets  to  the  Duomo;  "Verily,"  writes  Pistofilo,  "it  w^^s 

493 


m 


an  omen  a^iid  a.  s. 

have  to  sustain  it. 

But,  at  first,  thi 

which   these    **  fur: 

"  To-day   right   ea 

of  Ferrara,    **  there 

Costabili,  our    nota 

Nobility,  and,  man. 

countenance,  he  she 

write  that  thy  fath 

hath  pleased  God,  ha 

hast  been  declared  L 

nobles  and  people. 

our  soul.    For,  accord 

grieve    that  the  Holy 

deprived  of  such  a  soj 

pnidence  and  probity. 

See  with  sincere  piety. 

not  only  by  thee  and  his 

all  the  right-minded;  bu 

sary  that  he  should  son 

forj  glory,  but,  perchan< 

must,  nevertheless,  afforc 

death  befitted  a  life  spe 

may  hope  that  abundant  j 

just  Judge,  our  Saviour,    i 

son,  hast  received  the  govt 

great  consent,  hoping  that,  i 

a  parent,  thou  wilt  show 

said  Apostolic  See  and  to  t 

1  Sanudo,  Diarii,  vi.  col.  126; 
p.  493. 

4! 


THE  END  OF  THE  HERCULEAN  AGE 

as  not  merely  to  fulfil,  but  to  surpass  by  far  the  opinion  that 
we  have  conceived  of  thee.  We,  indeed,  receiving  and 
embracing  thee  as  our  most  special  son  (as  thou  art),  shall 
do  with  paternal  affection  whatever  we  shall  learn  may  tend 
to  supporting  the  honour  of  thy  Nobility  and  the  peace 
of  thy  peoples  ;  and  all  the  more  diligently  as  the  newness 
of  thy  sovereignty  seems  the  more  to  demand  it ;  so  that,  as 
far  as  pertains  to  us  and  this  Holy  Apostolic  See,  thou  shalt 
not  feel  that  thou  hast  lost  thy  father  Hercules."  ^ 

Alfonso  had  inherited  but  little  of  his  father's  popularity, 
and  had  none  of  his  wife's  culture.    Brusque  in  manners, 
negligent  in  attire  and  somewhat  forbidding  in  appearance, 
he  left  Lucreziato  her  own  circle  of  poets  and  humanists, 
while  he  devoted  himself  to  his  favourite  mechanical  pursuits, 
casting  guns,  working  in  metal,  manufacturing  majolica  ves- 
sels and  the  like  in  his  own  private  boUega,    Rough  artisans 
and  men  of  low  birth  surrounded  him,  jesting  freely  with  him, 
frequently  admitted  to  his  table,  and  even  sharing  in  his 
coarser  pleasures.    It  is  dear  that  he  disUked  Lucrezia's 
friends.     Bembo  had  grown  more  cautious  and  distant  in 
his  homage  to  the  Duchess,  since  her  husband's  return,  and 
let  himself  less  frequently  be  seen  in  Ferrara.    In  this 
year,  1505,  he  published  his  Asolani  at  Venice,  with  a 
dedicatory  letter  to  Lucrezia,  in  which  he  mentions  "  my 
friends,  much  loved  by  me  and  honoured  by  the  world,  your 
intimates  and  famiUars,  Messer  Ercole  Strozza  and  Messer 
Antonio  Tebaldeo." »    The  Duke  gave  these  two  poets  a 
severe  fright  at  the  beginning  of    his  reign.     We  do  not 
know  exactly  what  he  did  or  said ;  but,  on  February  3» 

1  Brief  of  January  29,  1505.     Archivio  Vaticano,  xxxix.  22,  ff. 
252^,  253. 

2  Letter  of  August,  1505,  in  vol.  viii.  of  the  Opere. 

495 


M 


DUKHS  ANE 

Benedetto  Capilupo     w: 

that  Ercole  Strozzi  >vas 

all  the  people  against  hii 

Duke,  hinting   that    the 

would  tell  her  by  word  of 

wrote  to  the   Marquis, 

benefice,  because  "  this  E 

why,  and  it  is  not  safe  fo 

the  present,  however,  the 

two  remained  in  Ferrara  ij 

Firmly  seated  upon  th 

secure  the  friendship  of  Vej 

dressed  in  black,  accompan 

Giulio,  with  a  following 

paid  a  state  visit  to  the 

the  utmost  cordiality.    Bv 

Ferrara.      Throughout  thii 

there  was  great  famine  ai 

women  died  of  hunger  in  tl 

the  pestilence  followed ;  sev 

and  thousands  more  left  th 

in  July,  and  Tito  Vespasiam 

fled  to  Reggio,  where,  in  the 

who  did  not  long  survive.   Tl 

^  Luzio  and  Renier,  La  ColtuVi 
d'  Este,  ii.  2,  pp.  207, 239.  In  the 
them  both  to  Mantua,  in  Februar 
autograph  letters,  uigently  com 
tection  (ibid.,  pp.  208, 239);  but  tl 
and  they  were  able  to  return  to  F( 

*  Tito's  son  Ercole,  who  had  bee] 
of  Judge  of  the  Twelve  Sages,  no\% 
April,  when  Antonio  di  RinaJdo  Co 

491 


'■"/■ 


',■».>;•  (J^'lu/,- 


I 


//Ir^  (AAr  .///^ 


THE  END  OF  THE  HERCULEAN  AGE 

his  quarters  in  Belriguardo.  A  copious  harvest  caused 
a  general  amelioration  in  the  following  year;  but,  in  the 
meanwhile,  an  appalling  tragedy  had  taken  place  which 
threw  a  dark  cloud  over  the  House  of  Este. 

We  have  already  seen  that,  before  the  old  Duke's  death, 
there  had  been  some  hints  of  a  party  in  Ferrara  prepared 
to  put  forward  Don  Ferrando  as  a  pretender  to  the  succes- 
sion, and  that  it  was  rumoured  that,  if  Alfonso  had  not  re- 
turned from  his  travels  in  time,  Ferrando  would  have  been 
acclaimed  Duke.  There  were  many  in  the  duchy  that 
disliked  Alfonso's  personality  and  his  apparent  neglect  of 
State  business  for  his  mechanical  pursuits.  Educated  in  the 
pompous  Court  of  Naples,  experienced  in  the  service  of 
France  and  Venice,  Ferrando  was  intensely  ambitious,  and 
he  now  saw,  in  the  discontent  which  was  prevalent  in  these 
opening  months  of  his  brother's  reign,  his  own  way  to  the 
throne. 

The  origin  of  the  affair  is  still  shrouded  in  mystery.     But 
it  appears  that  in  this  same  September,  1505,  while  Lucrezia 
was  at  Reggio,  the  conspirators  met  at  Carpi — that  perpetual 
nest  of  conspiracies  against  the  House  of  Este— without  any 
definite  result.    Besides  Don  Ferrando  himself,  the  leading 
spirits  were  Count  Albertino  Boschetti,  a  man  between 
sixty  and  seventy  years  old,  and   his   son-in-law,  Gerardo 
de'  Roberti  of  Reggio,  who  was  one  of  the  captains  of  the 
Duke's  crossbowmen.   The  lesser  limbs  of  the  plot  were  Fran- 
ceschino  Boccaccio  of  Rubiera,  a  creature   of  Ferrando's, 
and  a  priest  of  Gascony,  called  Gianni,  whom  Alfonso  had 
picked  up  as  a  beggar  boy  during  his  travels,  attracted  by 
his  sweet  voice  in  singing,  and  admitted  to  his  intimate 
circle,  and  who  was  one  of  the  agents  of  his  vices.     Before 
they  decided  on  taking  definite  action,  the  sting  of  revenge 

497 


DUKES  AND   P 

was  added  to  the  craving^s 

Estensian  brothers  ^^rere  dr 

their  parts  in  the  impendin 

Donna  Angela  Borgia  h 

with  playing  the  part  of  the 

would-be    Lancelot     and     j 

but  had  been  indulging  in  s 

account.    Her  extraordinar 

hair  which  rivalled  that  of  h( 

hearts  of  the  Estensian   pri 

ecclesiastical  profession ;    thi 

and  the  bastard  Giulio  were  b 

upon  the  latter,  allured  by  h 

she  said,  in  answer  to  a  pass 

"  your  brother's  eyes  are  wort 

person." 

Don  Giulio  had  temporar 
displeasure  and  been  put  un 
having  Uberated  from  the  pris* 
the  Duke  had  sentenced  to 
September  ;  but  he  shortly  ret 
no  danger.  On  November  3, 
expedition  in  the  country  rounc 
disguised,  with  a  band  of  arm( 
assailed  him ;  in  spite  of  Giuli 
was  overcome  and  dragged  froi 
brother  stood  looking  on— s/d 
according  to  the  express  testimon 
both  his  eyes  with  a  rapier,  and 
was  at  Belriguardo  when  this  he 

1  Sanudo,  op.  cit.,  vi.  c 

2  Vita  di  Alfonso  I  d' 

498 


THE  END  OF  THE  HERCULEAN  AGE 

himself  hurried  thither  to  inform  him  that  their  brother 
had  been  found  horribly  mutilated  by  imknown  hands. 
In  a  passion  of  righteous  indignation,  Alfonso  sprang  from 
his  seat— he  was  at  table  at  the  time — and  ordered  the  most 
rigorous  investigation  to  be  made,  himself  hastening  into 
Ferrara  for  the  purpose. 

The  hideous  crime  had  been  only  partially  accomplished, 
and  the  physicians  were  able  to  save  the  sight  of  one  eye. 
A  few  days  after  the  event,  on  November  8,  Ippolito — 
who  had  many  good  reasons  for  dreading  the  Pope — 
dispatched  an  epistle  to  Beltrando  Costabili,  which  is  a 
perfect  model  of  h5rpocrisy.  "  Although  we  are  certain," 
he  bade  his  secretary  write,  "  that,  from  the  letters  of  the 
Excellence  of  the  Lord  Duke,  the  Holiness  of  our  Lord 
will  have  fully  understood  the  accident  that  has  befallen 
the  most  illustrious  lord  Don  Giulio,  our  brother  ;  never- 
theless, both  because  of  the  special  duty  we  owe  his  Beati- 
tude and  because  these  scoimdrels  who  have  offended  the 
said  Don  Giulio  were  once  in  our  service,  we  have  thought 
fit  to  tell  him  the  same  again  briefly,  by  the  means  of  your 
reverend  paternity.  And,  therefore,  from  us,  after  kissing 
the  feet  of  his  Holiness,  you  will  make  him  understand 
that,  while  Don  Giulio  was  at  Belriguardo  and  riding  for 
pleasure  in  the  country  round  after  midday,  he  was  assailed 
by  four  men,  formerly  our  familiars,  who  dragged  him  from 
his  horse  and  with  repeated  blows  strove  to  extinguish  the 
light  of  his  eyes— albeit  we  still  hope  that,  by  the  grace  of 
God,  the  affair  will  pass  off  well.  The  cause  of  such  a  crime 
and  atrocious  thing,  so  far  as  we  have  been  able  to  imderstand, 
has  been  that  these  men  (who,  we  said,  had  been  of  ours) 
had  enmity  with  certain  of  the  household  of  Don  Giulio,  and 
it  seems  that  his  Lordship  favoured  these  latter  extremely 

499 


DUKES  AND  POETS  IN  FE 

against  them ;  and  those  fellows,  unders 

were  some  differences  between  the  said  1 

us  (because  of  that  priest  about  whom 

believed  that  they  would  not  be  doing 

offending  his  Lordship,  and  so  set  them 

enormous  an  iniquity.    Concerning  this 

the  greatest  sorrow  that  can  be  thought ; 

that  anything  else  could  have  happene 

to  cause  us  so  much  grief  and  anguish  a 

weighed  and  does  weigh  upon  us  so  m 

go  out  of  our  proper  bounds — inasmuch 

ecclesiastic,  we  have  left  nothing  undoi 

Duke,  our  brother,  to  have  these  mak 

whom  as  yet  we  have  not  been  able  t( 

reverend  paternity  will  explain  to  his 

usual  dexterity,  and  express  to  him  t 

we  have  therefrom."  * 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  Ippolito  had  s< 
of  the  territories  of  the  duchy,  and 
fallen  upon  himself.  At  the  advice 
Sages,  Antonio  Costabili,  he  left  F 
escape  the  first  impulse  of  Alfonso's 
wrote  to  Venice,  requesting  that  the 
delivered  up  to  him,  if  taken.  A 
dezino,  a  Venetian  subject,  was  arresi 
having  been  one  of  the  assailants  of  D 
the  Cardinal  intervened  vigorously 
tion,  the  Duke  bade  his  ambassado 
Salimbeni,  insist  upon  it,  in  season  a 
that  "  it  is  necessary  for  our  honour 
means,  in  our  hands."  The  Sign 
*  CappeUi,  Lettere  di  Lodovico  A 
500 


THE  END  OF  THE  HERCULEAN  AGE 

complied  ;  the  man  was  at  first  said  to  have  confessed,  but 

a.fte]rwaxds  released  as  innocents      But  already  the  Duke's 

anger    liad  evaporated,  and  he  could  do  nothing  without 

Ippolito.     Before  the  end  of  December,  the  Cardinal  was 

baxJc  in  Ferrara,  perfectly  in  accord  with  Alfonso.     Niccold 

da  Correggio,  at  the  Duke's  instance,  attempted  to  bring 

about  a  reconciliation  between  the  Cardinal  and  Giulio  ;  in 

the  presence  of  Alfonso,  Ippolito  craved  pardon  of  Giulio, 

and   Niccold  persuaded  the  two  brothers  to  exchange  the 

kiss   of  peace.*      Needless  to  say  that  it  was  the  kiss  of 

Judas. 

Thirsting  for  vengeance,  Giulio  made  common  cause  with 
Eton  Ferrando,  and  it  was  decided  that  the  Duke  and  the 
Cardinal  should  fall  together.    Machiavelli,  in  his  famous 
chapter  on  conspiracies,  observes  that  a  plot  against  a  single 
prince  is  a  doubtful,  perilous  and  imprudent  thing ;  but  to 
plot  against  two  is  utterly  vain  and  foolish.  There  is  another 
difficulty  that  the  Florentine  secretary  perceives  in  these 
things,    and  that  is  what  he  calls  "the  majesty  and  the 
reverence  that  cling  to  the  presence  of  a  prince" — ^Shake- 
speare's "divinity"  that  "doth  hedge  a  king."     "Two  of 
his    brothers,"    Machiavelli    says,  "plotted  against   Duke 
Alfonso  of  Ferrara,  and  they  used  as  their  means  the  priest 
Gianni,  the  Duke*s  singer,  who  many  times  at  their  request 
brought    the  Duke  among  them;  so  that  they  had  the 
opportunity  of  assassinating  him.    Nevertheless,  never  did 
one  of  them  dare  do  it."  *  The  delay  was  partly  due  to  the 
dif&culty  of  killing  the  two  together,  Ferrando  being  bent 

^    Sanudo,  op.  cit,  vi.  coll.  255,  270,  271 ;  Cappelli,  op,  cit.,  docu- 
ment 5  (ducal  letter  of  December  2, 1505). 

«  "Luzio  and  Renier,  Niccold  da  Correggio,  i.  p.  244.      Sanudo, 
op.  oit,t  vi.  col.  276. 

*  Discarsi  sopra  la  prima  dsca  di  Tito  Livio,  i